EFFICIENCY 
POINTS 


BV 

2060 

.D7 

1915 


DOUGHTY 


BV  2060 

.D7 

1915 

Doughty, 

Wi 

lliam 

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ison. 

1873- 

Ef f iciency 

points 

Efficiency  Points 

STUDIES   IN   MISSIONARY 
FUNDAMENTALS 


W.  E.  DOUGHTY 

EDUCATIONAL  SECRETARY,  LAYMEN 's  MISSIONARY  MOVEMENT 

Author  of  The  Call  of  the  World 


1915 

MISSIONARY  EDUCATION  MOVEMENT 
OF  THE  UNITED   STATES  AND   CANADA 

NEW  YORK 


PUBLISHED  JOINTLY  BY 

MISSIONARY  EDUCATION  MOVEMENT 

AND 

LAYMEN'S  MISSIONARY  MOVEMENT 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Preface    v 

I.     The  Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible i 

II.     The  Spread  of  Christianity  by  Personal  Service 29 

III.  The  Christian  Attitude  Toward  Property 55 

IV.  Intercession  the  Most  Powerful  Dynamic  of  Efficiency  79 


PREFACE 

Facing  the  to-morrow  of  universal  Christian  victory 
with  the  men  of  the  churches  in  many  campaigns  has 
left  an  abiding  conviction  that  an  effective  appeal  to  men 
must  contain  at  least  three  elements : 

First,  there  must  be  a  constant  reminder  of  the  funda- 
mentals of  our  faith  v^hich  make  the  missionary  principle 
binding  and  compelling. 

Second,  the  facts  concerning  world  conditions  and  the 
expansion  of  Christianity  must  be  presented  in  an  im- 
pressive way. 

Third,  practical  methods  must  be  pointed  out  by  which 
men  may  relate  themselves  to  the  vital  tasks  of  the 
Church. 

A  knowledge  of  the  facts  of  missions  and  a  call  to 
service  are  not  enough.  To  these  must  be  added  a  gen- 
uine appreciation  of  the  motives  and  principles  which 
account  for  the  facts  and  which  make  service  effective. 
Facts  and  methods  and  fundamentals  fused  in  the  glow- 
ing fires  of  daily  Christian  service  will  call  men  out  into 
ever-deepening  devotion  to  Jesus  Christ  and  his  world. 

That  a  multitude  of  men  who  ponder  these  pages  may 
be  led  to  a  larger  participation  in  the  Christian  enterprises 


VI 


Preface 


of  our  day  is  the  earnest  desire  of  the  author,  as  he  re- 
leases this  message  of  his  heart  and  mind  among  his 
brothers  who  Hve  and  labor  for  the  efficiency  of  the 
Church  in  her  world-wide  ministries. 

W.  E.  Doughty 
New  York 
hme  I,  1915 


EFFICIENCY  POINTS 

CHAPTER   I 

THE    MISSIONARY    IDEAL    OF   THE    BIBLE 

'^Efficiency  is  a  magic  word  in  the  commercial  life  of 
the  twentieth  century,"  says  the  opening  sentence  of 
Tremaine's  little  book  on  Church  Efficiency.  In  our  day 
the  magic  of  the  idea  of  efficiency  is  powerfully  influenc- 
ing the  Church  as  well  as  the  commercial  world.  There 
is  a  wide-spread  eagerness  among  the  leaders  of  Chris- 
tian enterprises  to  produce  a  worthier  quantity  and 
quality  of  output.  To  be  fruitful  and  permanent  all 
such  attempts  must  lead  the  Church  back  to  a  living  con- 
tact with  the  Bible,  and  to  a  deeper  cultivation  of  the 
spiritual  processes  out  of  which  all  Christian  products 
flow. 

The   Bible  and  the  Living  Need 

One  of  the  most  inspiring  evidences  of  the  temper 
of  the  best  Bible  students  of  our  time  is  seen  in  their 
desire  to  interpret  the  Book  in  terms  of  living  need. 
There  is  no  longer  serious  debate  in  Christian  circles  as 
to  whether  or  not  the  great  need  is  the  need  of  humanity 
for  Christ.  It  is  the  conviction  of  all  the  churches  that 
the  central  task  of  the  Church  is  to  give  to  every  per- 
son who  is  alive  in  our  day  an  adequate  opportunity  to 

I 


2  Efficiency  Points 

know  and  to  receive  him.    The  great  need  and  the  great 
task  are  both  missionary. 

No  church  can  fully  minister  to  the  deepest  spiritual 
needs  of  its  own  members  or  reach  a  maximum  of  effi- 
ciency in  its  community  until  it  is  adequately  adjusted  to 
its  missionary  duty.  The  test,  therefore,  of  the  vitality 
and  efficiency  of  any  church  is  not  only  how  completely  it 


The  Bible  and  Three  Best  Sellers  in  igi4 


eric 


ll^olypie 


WTT 


6,353,000 


(Oe: 


*    i NOVELS  I 


11.118,000 


^  Sales  of  Bibles  or  pomow  ihfTf of  VyiheAmnruan 
Biblf  Soaeiy      Sales  do  noi  include  those  of  com 
mercidl  fiiiiu. 

*5aks  of  three  best  selling  Amenedn  novels 


ministers  to  the  needs  of  its  own  membership,  but  also 
as  to  how  far  it  is  a  center  of  community  betterment 
and  a  force  in  the  world-wide  extension  of  the  King- 
dom. God  has  pledged  universal  dominion  to  his  Son, 
but  he  plans  to  secure  this  universal  dominion  through 
his  sons  on  earth.  With  the  incentive  of  the  highest 
of  all  tasks  and  access  to  the  boundless  energies  of  the 
living  God,  no  other  organization  in  the  world  has  so 
great  possibilities  of  efficiency  as  the  Church.  Multi- 
tudes of  church-members  are,  however,  still  unheeding 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  3 

and  indifferent  to  the  missionary  appeal.  What  shall 
be  done  to  arouse  them? 

One  of  the  first  essentials  to  securing  missionary  effi- 
ciency is  to  bring  to  bear  upon  the  Church  the  con- 
viction that  the  Bible,  the  great  charter  of  the  Church, 
is  a  missionary  book,  that  in  it  the  missionary  mes- 
sage is  pervasive  and  dominant,  that  the  missionary  ideal 
of  the  Bible  grows  in  power  as  revelation  progresses 
until  it  comes  to  its  climax  in  Christ  and  his  message 
of  the  Kingdom.  Such  a  conviction  can  come  only  from 
a  fresh  study  of  the  Bible  itself  and  a  discovery  of  the 
missionary  ideal  in  the  Scriptures. 

What  then  are  the  indispensable,  practical  things  which 
busy  men  must  know  from  the  Book  and  to  which  they 
must  adjust  their  lives  if  they  are  to  be  highly  efficient 
Christians  ? 

Points  of  View 

There  are  several  methods  of  approach  to  the  study 
of  the  missionary  significance  of  the  Bible.  Two  of 
them  are  mentioned. 

I.     The  Bible  Is  a  Book  Containing  Missionary  Texts 

For  many  years  the  chief  way  of  presenting  the  mis- 
sionary message  of  the  Bible  was  to  rest  the  case  upon 
certain  more  or  less  isolated  texts.  The  exposition  and 
application  of  such  passages  as  Matthew  xxviii.  18-20 
will  always  yield  rich  treasures,  but  the  proof-text  method 
is  by  no  means  complete,  satisfying,  or  final. 

Proof-texts  are  not  the  basis  of  the  missionary  appeal. 
The  total  message  of  the  Book  is  the  basis.     Proof- 


4  Efficiency  Points 

texts  are  luminous  points  at  which  this  message  emerges 
with  unusual  brilliance  and  power.  They  are  of  unusual 
value  as  statements  of  missionary  principle,  as  illustra- 
tions of  achievement  and  as  points  of  departure  for  a 
more  comprehensive  study  of  the  missionary  message 
of  the  whole  Bible,  but  the  omission  or  destruction  of 
any  proof-text  would  not  at  all  invalidate  the  missionary 
obligation  nor  should  it  disturb  the  faith  of  the  Church. 
If  our  method  of  Bible  study  is  exclusively  a  proof- 
text  method,  we  shall  find  certain  portions  of  the  Bible 
apparently  anti-missionary  and  other  sections  neutral, 
as  far  as  the  missionary  attitude  is  concerned. 

2.     The  Bible  Is  a  Book  Missionary  in  Its  Texture 

The  most  satisfactory  method  of  studying  the  Bible  is 
the  historical  method.  By  adopting  this  method  of  study 
the  fact  is  made  clear  that  the  missionary  message  is  in 
the  structure  of  the  Bible,  inseparably  wrought  into  its 
constitution.  As  one  has  expressed  it:  "To  determine 
the  missionary  character  of  the  Bible  is  not  a  question 
of  text  but  of  texture."  That  the  Bible  as  a  whole  is 
essentially  a  missionary  book  is  the  point  of  view  out- 
lined in  this  chapter.  All  that  has  been  attempted  in 
the  following  pages  is  to  summarize  in  a  broad  way  the 
message  of  each  of  the  great  sections  of  the  Bible  taken 
as  a  whole.  Embedded  in  these,  and  deserving  of  more 
detailed  study,  there  are  certain  books  and  certain  pas- 
sages in  which  the  missionary  message  is  particularly 
prominent  and  powerful.  A  few  of  these  are  referred 
to  in  the  discussion. 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  5 

Points  to  Remember 

Revelation  is  a  growth;  it  is  not  cast  in  a  mold  but 
develops  in  the  swift  current  of  human  history.  We 
must  not  therefore  expect  that  the  missionary  ideal  will 
be  found  full  grown  in  the  Old  Testament  any  more  than 
we  expect  to  find  the  principles  of  redemption  fully  re- 
vealed there.  To  quote  from  The  Bible  a  Missionary 
Book,  by  Robert  F.  Horton:  "If  the  Old  Testament 
were  a  missionary  book  like  the  New,  the  New  Testament 
would  not  have  been  necessary.  What  we  are  to  ex- 
pect from  the  missionary  study  of  the  Old  Testament  is 
an  appreciation  of  the  long  evolutionary  processes  by 
which  God  prepared  mankind  for  his  supreme  revela- 
tion." ^ 

It  will  be  recognized  at  once,  of  course,  that  due  cau- 
tion should  be  observed  not  to  read  into  the  Bible  ideas 
or  principles  that  are  not  clearly  stated  or  implied  in  the 
Scriptures  themselves.  On  the  other  hand,  there  should 
be  no  hesitation  in  accepting  what  is  discovered^  for 
there  is  a  wealth  of  meaning  in  the  Scriptures  which 
has  not  yet  been  fully  understood  and  applied.  It  re- 
mains true  that  new  light  is  breaking  out  of  the  Old 
Word. 

One  fact  which  will  lead  to  great  confusion  and  diffi- 
culty, unless  it  is  recognized  at  the  beginning,  is  that 
the  writings  in  the  Bible  are  not  arranged  in  chronological 
order.  For  example,  the  order  in  which  the  minor 
prophets  appear  in  the  Bible  gives  no  clue  to  the  ques- 
tion as  to  when  they  were  written.  Some  of  the  books 
were  written,  or  edited,  or  compiled,  long  after  the  period 

*  Page  86. 


6  Efficiency  Points 

with  which  the  narrative  deals.  The  historical  facts  are 
often  interpreted  and  molded  by  the  thought  or  aspira- 
tions of  the  writers  or  of  prophets  who  lived  in  the 
writer's  day. 

Certain  differences  between  the  message  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New  should  be  noted  at  the  outset. 
In  the  history  of  the  redemptive  purpose  of  God,  while 
the  Old  Testament  is  truly  international,  it  deals  princi- 
pally with  a  race.  The  New  Testament  deals  with  hu- 
manity. In  the  Old  Testament  Israel  is  central  and 
other  people  incidental.  In  the  New  Testament,  while 
the  Jewish  people  are  still  prominent,  the  narrative  moves 
out  into  new  international  and  world  relationships. 
Christ  and  his  disciples  preach  a  new  message,  and,  while 
they  quote  from  the  Old  Testament,  the  quotations  are 
usually  from  those  portions  which  have  a  truly  interna- 
tional significance.  The  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
do  not  begin  with  creation,  but  with  the  new  creation; 
not  with  the  fall,  but  with  the  restoration.  The  main 
concern  is  not  with  a  chosen  nation,  but  with  a  universal 
kingdom.  The  Old  Testament  while  clearly  universal 
in  its  intent,  is  restricted  in  its  method ;  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  universal  both  in  intent  and  in  method.  The  Old 
Testament  is  a  record  of  how  God  made  himself  known 
to  Israel.  The  New  Testament  is  the  beginning  of  the 
record  of  how  God  is  making  himself  known  to  the 
whole  world.  The  Old  Testament  has  universal  ele- 
ments stated  or  implied ;  the  New  Testament  takes  these 
universal  elements  and  unfolds  and  applies  them.  The 
law  and  the  prophets  contain  the  missionary  ideal;  the 
gospel  is  the  missionary  ideal. 

No  section  of  the  Old  Testament  should  be  considered 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  7 

apart  from  the  fact  that  four  great  groups  of  writings — 
the  law,  the  history,  the  prophets,  and  the  miscellaneous 
books  make  up  the  Old  Testament.  Not  one  of  these 
can  be  put  in  a  separate  compartment  and  considered 
as  distinct  from  the  others.  The  law  is  a  product  of 
the  whole  period  to  the  final  drama  in  Judaism.  The 
history  is  a  parallel  stream.  Poets  rose  at  various  points 
in  the  history,  and  the  prophets  powerfully  molded  think- 
ing and  action  for  centuries. 

The  missionary  meaning  of  the  Bible  must  be  tested  in 
the  light  of  the  fact  that  God  has  both  a  plan  and  a 
goal.  The  law  contains  glimpses  of  the  plan,  the  history 
is  a  record  of  progress  toward  the  goal,  the  poets  reveal 
the  mind  and  heart  of  a  growing  race  in  training  for  the 
carrying  out  of  the  plan,  and  the  prophets  are  interpre- 
ters of  God  and  his  plan  and  have  a  clearer  insight  than 
any  of  the  other  Old  Testament  writers  into  the  character 
of  the  plan  and  the  goal. 

The  Old  Testament 

We  pass  now  to  the  examination  of  certain  outstand- 
ing missionary  characteristics  of  the  Old  Testament. 

The  Pentateuch 

The  first  five  books  of  the  Bible  contain  much  history 
and  other  interesting  matter  besides  the  legal  codes. 

The  account  of  creation  has  elements  in  it  which  ap- 
peal to  all  mankind.  A  God,  whose  unity  and  power 
and  beneficence  make  him  worthy  of  universal  adoration 
and  worship,  is  revealed  on  the  very  first  page  of  the 
Bible.  The  missionary  content  of  the  creation  story  is 
unmistakable. 


8  Efficiency  Points 

The  ten  commandments  occupy  but  a  small  section 
of  Exodus  and  Deuteronomy,  but  the  interpretation  of 
and  commentaries  on  these  basal  codes  fill  many  pages. 
These  commandments,  as  found  in  Exodus,  chapter  xx, 
and  Deuteronomy,  chapter  v,  can  never  be  superseded 
as  fundamentals  in  morals  and  religion.  They  are  in- 
capable of  merely  racial  or  national  application.  They 
are  at  the  base  of  the  world's  ethics  and  are  the  indis- 
pensable inheritance  of  all  races  and  ages. 

These  books  should  be  read  beside  Ezekiel,  Jeremiah, 
and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  to  bring  out  the  mis- 
sionary significance  in  them  and  the  unfolding  purpose 
of  God  through  them.  Here  and  in  the  historical  books 
there  are  many  evidences  of  a  struggle  profoundly  af- 
fecting the  life  of  Israel  going  on  throughout  the  entire 
Old  Testament  period.  In  the  early  days  of  the  conquest 
of  Caanan  and  following  it  was  a  conflict  between  the 
customs  and  laws  of  a  simple  people  who  lived  in  the 
open  and  of  the  moral  and  social  codes  of  the  settled 
dwellers  in  the  cities.  Such  problems  as  the  control  of 
the  land  and  the  social  welfare  and  uplift  were  acute. 
The  conflict  with  idolatry  was  sharp  and  prolonged. 
Later  on  the  chief  elements  are  a  narrow  conservative 
party  on  one  side  and  the  progressive  missionary  prophets 
on  the  other.  One  party  developed  into  Pharisaism,  the 
other  prepared  the  way  for  the  new  age.  The  great 
missionary  message  of  the  Old  Testament  is  the  story 
of  the  growing  triumph  of  the  missionary  ideal  over 
provincialism  and  selfishness.  How  this  ideal  conquered 
is  blended  with  the  whole  Old  Testament,  first  a  tiny 
rivulet,  but  finally  a  flood.  The  Pentateuch  records  the 
first  stages  of  the  conflict.    It  is  found  in  the  historical 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  9 

books,  and  the  prophets  and  poets  are  in  the  thick  of 
the  fight.  The  advanced  stages  of  the  struggle  are 
found  in  the  New  Testament,  with  Jesus  and  the  early 
Church  on  one  side  and  the  Pharisee  on  the  other.  The 
prophetic  and  missionary  ideal  triumphed,  although  the 
victory  is  not  yet  complete,  for  there  are  still  elements 
of  Pharisaism  working  evil  in  the  world. 

The  universal  purpose  of  God  is  revealed  in  the  Penta- 
teuch in  many  specific  places,  ^such  as  that  in  Genesis  ix. 
15,  "I  will  remember  my  covenant,  which  is  between  me 
and  you  and  every  living  creature  of  all  flesh."  Lan- 
guage could  not  express  in  any  more  positive  way  the 
universal  purpose  of  God. 

Note  particularly  God's  covenant  with  Abraham,  re- 
newed with  Isaac  and  Jacob.  This  has  been  called  the  Old 
Testament  Missionary  Commission.  The  two  following 
accounts  are  inspiring :  *'Now  Jehovah  said  unto  Abram, 
Get  thee  out  of  thy  country,  and  from  thy  kindred,  and 
from  thy  father's  house,  unto  the  land  that  I  will  show 
thee:  and  I  will  make  of  thee  a  great  nation,  and  I  will 
bless  thee,  and  make  thy  name  great;  and  be  thou  a 
blessing:  and  I  will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and  him 
that  curseth  thee  will  I  curse:  and  in  thee  shall  all  the 
families  of  the  earth  be  blessed"  (Gen.  xii.  1-3).  "And 
.  .  .  Jehovah  .  .  .  said,  I  am  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham thy  father,  and  the  God  of  Isaac :  the  land  whereon 
thou  liest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed;  and 
thy  seed  shall  be  as  the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  thou  shalt 
spread  abroad  to  the  west,  and  to  the  east,  and  to  the 
north,  and  to  the  south :  and  in  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall 
all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed"  (Gen.  xxviii.  13, 
14). 


lo  Efficiency  Points 

God  wished  the  patriarchs  to  understand  that  their 
election  was  not  to  special  privilege,  but  to  special  service. 
The  service  which  God  gave  to  Israel  was  to  impart 
to  the  nations  the  knowledge  of  Jehovah.  They  were 
to  exalt  the  worship  of  the  one  righteous  God.  He  is 
revealed  most  clearly  in  the  teachings  of  the  prophets, 
but  their  message  colors  other  parts  of  the  Old  Testament 
as  well  as  the  books  which  bear  their  names.  To  be  a 
blessing  to  all  nations  is  the  highest  missionary  note 
in  the  national  life.  "Unto  him  shall  the  obedience  of 
the  peoples  be"  (Gen.  xlix.  lo)  is  one  of  the  exalted 
expressions  of  the  Old  Testament.  Any  provincial  in- 
terpretation of  such  a  universal  truth  will  always  be  in- 
adequate. 

Here  then  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  Bible  are  laid 
down  certain  universal  principles  and  programs.  That 
Israel  did  not  interpret  them  in  their  wide  significance 
and  see  their  universal  implications  does  not  at  all  invali- 
date their  message  for  our  day. 

The  Historical  Books 

The  annals  of  the  Old  Testament  were  not  written 
primarily  for  the  sake  of  history  but  to  record  certain 
religious  events  and  movements  and  revelations.  It  is 
this  fact  which  gives  them  their  missionary  value. 

The  historical  books  are  usually  considered  devoid 
of  special  missionary  significance.  There  is,  however, 
throughout  the  entire  history  a  revelation  of  the  unfold- 
ing purpose  of  God.  That  purpose  may  be  stated  briefly 
as  follows :  Israel  was  a  nation  in  training  for  the  de^ 
velopment,  the  preservation,  and  the  distribution  of  the 
divine  revelation. 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  ii 

The  development  of  God's  revelation  of  himself  and 
his  purpose  went  on  throughout  the  entire  Old  Testa- 
ment and  culminated  in  the  ministry  of  Jesus  and  the 
apostolic  age. 

There  is  in  history  no  record  of  the  preservation  of 
growing  truths  so  striking  as  that  shown  by  the  Hebrew 
people.  The  Jew  is  often  called  ''the  miracle  of  history," 
because  of  the  preservation  of  his  identity  and  national 
characteristics  through  the  centuries.  The  world  owes 
much  to  this  wonderful  ability,  for  it  contributed  directly 
to  the  preservation  of  the  religious  truth  which  God  was 
seeking  to  get  into  the  minds  and  lives  of  men. 

The  survey  of  Old  Testament  history  brings  out 
the  unfolding  of  God's  plan.  The  nation  was  preserved 
from  extinction  by  removal  into  Egypt,  where  the  people 
developed  into  a  hardy  race  and  learned  much  from  the 
highly  developed  Egyptians.  When  they  were  ready 
for  a  separate  nationality,  they  were  taken  out  of  Egypt 
and  their  conceptions  of  Jehovah  and  his  purposes  were 
greatly  enriched  by  their  experiences  in  the  exodus,  in 
the  wanderings  in  the  desert,  and  in  their  conquest  of 
Canaan. 

The  exile  added  to  their  preparation  for  moral  leader- 
ship and  taught  them  that  their  sufferings  were  not  for 
the  purpose  of  destroying  them  but  of  purifying  them. 
The  refined  gold  was  to  compose  a  vessel  to  carry  onward 
the  message  of  the  Almighty. 

Israel  failed  at  the  point  of  distribution.  This  failure 
made  impossible  the  complete  development  of  God's  plan 
through  the  Hebrew  nation.  It  was  a  case  of  arrested 
development.  A  provincial  interpretation  of  the  purposes 
of  God  can  never  conquer  the  world.    Until  his  people 


12  Efficiency  Points 

have  a  spirit  of  altruism,  a  spirit  of  unalterable  and  uni- 
versal good-will,  until  they  are  dominated  by  a  redemp- 
tive love,  they  will  be  unequal  to  the  strain  of  overcoming 
race  antipathies  and  narrowness  and  putting  forth  self- 
sacrificing  energies  for  the  redemption  of  all  mankind. 

Incidentally  there  are  many  isolated  sections  in  the 
historical  books  which  have  great  missionary  value,  such 
as  that  classic  word  regarding  foreigners  found  in  2 
Chronicles  vi.  32,  33 :  "Moreover  concerning  the  for- 
eigner, that  is  not  of  thy  people  Israel,  when  he  shall 
come  from  a  far  country  for  thy  great  name's  sake,  and 
thy  mighty  hand,  and  thine  outstretched  arm ;  when  they 
shall  come  and  pray  toward  this  house:  then  hear  thou 
from  heaven,  even  from  thy  dwelling-place,  and  do  ac- 
cording to  all  that  the  foreigner  calleth  to  thee  for; 
that  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  may  know  thy  name,  and 
fear  thee,  as  doth  thy  people  Israel,  and  that  they  may 
know  that  this  thy  house  which  I  have  built  is  called 
by  thy  name."  This  is  a  part  of  the  inspiring  prayer  of 
Solomon  at  the  dedication  of  the  temple.  It  has  in  it  high 
qualities  of  true  intercession  and  sounds  forth  a  universal 
note  surprising  for  the  day  in  which  the  words  were 
uttered. 

Special  reference  might  well  be  made  to  the  book  of 
Ruth  as  an  illustration  of  the  purpose  of  God  in  the  his- 
tory of  Israel.  What  is  the  meaning  of  this  book?  In 
Deuteronomy  xxiii.  3,  it  is  expressly  stated  that  no  Moab- 
ite  may  enter  into  the  congregation  of  the  children  of 
Israel  unto  the  tenth  generation.  Ruth  was  an  apparent 
exception  to  or  violation  of  this  law.  She  was  a  Moab- 
itess  who  was  not  only  admitted  into  the  congregation 
of  Israel  but  had  conferred  upon  her  that  highest  honor 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  13 

of  which  pious  Hebrew  mothers  dreamed.  She  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  direct  line  through  which  Christ  came 
into  the  world.  What  then  is  the  message  of  Ruth? 
Is  not  the  book  God's  plea  for  the  non-Israelite?  May 
not  the  races  which  now  occupy  a  lowly  place  turn  to 
Ruth  with  a  great  hope?  Even  outlawed  nations  are 
loved  by  Jehovah.  God  forever  pleads  the  cause  of  the 
outcast  race.  What  will  admit  them  into  the  circle  of 
the  very  elect  ?  Fitness  of  character.  Here  then  we  have 
a  book  with  a  missionary  message  of  great  power. 

The  Psalms  and  Other  Poetical  Writings 

There  is  no  section  of  the  Old  Testament  in  which 
we  get  nearer  to  a  nation's  heart  than  in  the  Psalms. 
The  Messianic  element  in  them  gives  these  books  their 
missionary  significance.  Many  of  them  breathe  a  spirit 
which  is  not  national  but  universal.  They  may  be  sung 
in  a  Jewish  synagogue  or  a  Christian  church  with  equal 
propriety  and  contribute  to  the  spiritual  worship  of  both 
alike.  Spiritual  realities  and  fine  interpretations  of  the 
inner  meaning  of  life  are  here.  Not  merely  is  there 
legalistic  justice  and  cleansing  but  genuine  confession, 
contrition,  thanksgiving,  and  intercession.  They  are  full 
of  exaltation  at  the  thought  of  Jehovah,  a  King,  reigning 
in  righteousness  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

How  a  people  could  sing  such  universal  truths  as 
those,  for  example,  in  Psalms  ii.  8;  xxii.  27,  28;  Ixvii. 
I,  2;  Ixxii.  8-11,  without  realizing  the  implications  of  the 
spirit  which  they  enshrine  is  inexplicable. 

There  are,  it  is  true,  many  Psalms  which  are  devoid  of 
the  missionary  spirit,  but  Dr.  Horton  has  put  the  case 
strongly  when  he  says:    "It  is  a  narrow  and  misguided 


14  Efficiency  Points 

judgment  which  would  discredit  the  noble  anticipations 
of  the  universal  reign  of  peace  and  equity  which  abound 
in  the  Psalms,  because  now  and  then  a  poet,  stung  by  the 
treachery  of  friends  or  smarting  under  the  cruelties  and 
oppressions  of  foes,  breaks  out  into  fierce  and  unhal- 
lowed imprecations.  The  missionary  character  of  the 
Psalter  lies  not  only  in  its  forecast  of  the  Messianic 
kingdom,  but  much  more  in  the  fulness,  the  richness, 
and  the  beauty  with  which  it  delineates  both  the  deepest 
experiences  and  the  most  transient  moods  of  the  human 
soul  in  its  relation  to  God."  ^ 

The  Proverbs,  Ecclesiastes,  and  Job  deal  with  ele- 
mental human  problems.  The  experiences  of  all  human 
life  are  here  interpreted  in  universal  terms. 

The  Prophets 

The  late  President  Harper  of  Chicago  University  is 
quoted  as  saying,  "Israel  was  not  peculiar  in  that  it  had 
prophets  but  it  was  peculiar  in  that  it  had  such  prophets." 

A  prophet  is  marked  by  two  characteristics.  First,  he 
is  an  interpreter  of  God's  attitude  toward  the  living  needs 
of  his  day.  How  God  views  graft  and  bribery,  the  mad 
pursuit  of  wealth,  the  oppression  of  the  poor,  injustice 
and  luxury  and  covetousness,  the  peril  of  godless  al- 
liances, the  meaning  of  disaster,  the  call  to  community  and 
even  international  service,  what  constitutes  the  heart  of 
religion, — these  are  burning  messages  of  the  prophets. 
Second,  the  prophet  is  the  living  link  between  past  and 
future.  He  received  a  great  inheritance  from  his  prede^ 
cessors.    He  passes  on  to  his  successors  an  enriched  be 

*  The  Bible  a  Missionary  Book,  171,  172. 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  15 

quest.    In  the  prophets  God's  plan  unfolds  and  the  goal 
of  history  emerges,  though  dimly  seen  at  first. 

Amos  is  the  prophet  of  social  redemption.  Hosea,  he 
of  the  wrecked  home,  pictures  the  seeking,  suffering  love 
of  a  righteous  God  for  a  wrecked  nation.  Jeremiah  in- 
terprets the  law  spiritually  and  shows  that  it  will  be  su- 
perseded by  another  higher  law  written  on  purified  hearts. 
It  is  easy  to  pass  from  the  following  words  to  the  mes- 
sages of  Christ.  "Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  Jehovah, 
that  I  will  make  a  new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel, 
and  with  the  house  of  Judah ;  not  according  to  the  cove- 
nant that  I  made  with  their  fathers  in  the  day  that  I 
took  them  by  the  hand,  to  bring  them  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt ;  which  my  covenant  they  brake,  although  I  was  a 
husband  unto  them,  saith  Jehovah.  But  this  is  the  cove- 
nant that  I  will  make  with  the  house  of  Israel  after 
those  days,  saith  Jehovah:  I  will  put  my  law  in  their 
inward  parts,  and  in  their  heart  will  I  write  it;  and  I 
will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people.  And 
they  shall  teach  no  more  every  man  his  neighbor,  and 
every  man  his  brother,  saying.  Know  Jehovah ;  for  they 
shall  all  know  me,  from  the  least  of  them  unto  the 
greatest  of  them,  saith  Jehovah :  for  I  will  forgive  their 
iniquity,  and  their  sin  will  I  remember  no  more"  (Jer. 
xxxi.  31-34).  Joel  is  the  prophet  of  Pentecost.  Micah 
tells  of  a  time  when  the  universal  kingdom  of  God  will 
be  here  on  earth.  Habakkuk  maintains  that  ''the  earth 
shall  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  Jeho- 
vah as  the  waters  cover  the  sea"  (Hab.  ii.  14)  ;  and  Zecha- 
riah  dreams  of  an  era  when  ''he  shall  speak  peace  unto 
the  nations :  and  his  dominion  shall  be  from  sea  to  sea, 


i6  Efficiency  Points 

and  from  the  River  to  the  ends  of  the  earth"  (Zech.  ix. 

10). 

Isaiah  is  an  internationalist  with  the  assertion  that  for- 
eign nations,  Babylon,  Philistia,  Moab,  Damascus,  Egypt, 
are  a  concern  to  Jehovah.  God  is  interested  in  all  na- 
tions. Favor  with  God  is  due,  not  to  nationality  nor  to 
race,  but  to  loyalty  and  love.  Israel's  suffering  is  for 
the  sake  of  larger  ministry  among  the  nations.  Isaiah 
clearly  teaches  that  the  vocation  of  the  nations  is  to 
serve  Jehovah.  Even  Assyria  and  Egypt,  those  mortal 
enemies  of  Israel,  are  sometimes  looked  upon  with  an 
attitude  which  is  worthy  of  the  advanced  ideas  of  the 
universal  dominion  of  God  which  fill  the  New  Testament. 
The  following  passage  will  illustrate.  'Tn  that  day  shall 
there  be  an  altar  to  Jehovah  in  the  midst  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  a  pillar  at  the  border  thereof  to  Jehovah. 
And  it  shall  be  for  a  sign  and  for  a  witness  unto  Jehovah 
of  hosts  in  the  land  of  Egypt;  for  they  shall  cry  unto 
Jehovah  because  of  oppressors,  and  he  will  send  them  a 
saviour,  and  a  defender,  and  he  will  deliver  them.  And 
Jehovah  shall  be  known  to  Egypt,  and  the  Egyptians  shall 
know  Jehovah  in  that  day;  yea,  they  shall  worship  with 
sacrifice  and  oblation,  and  shall  vow  a  vow  unto  Jehovah, 
and  shall  perform  it.  And  Jehovah  will  smite  Egypt, 
smiting  and  healing ;  and  they  shall  return  unto  Jehovah, 
and  he  will  be  entreated  of  them,  and  will  heal  them.  In 
that  day  shall  there  be  a  highway  out  of  Egypt  to  Assyria, 
and  the  Assyrian  shall  come  into  Egypt,  and  the  Egyptian 
into  Assyria;  and  the  Egyptian  shall  worship  with  the 
Assyrians.  In  that  day  shall  Israel  be  the  third  with 
Egypt  and  with  Assyria,  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the 
earth"  (Isa.  xix.  19-24). 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  17 

These  prophets  are  the  great  missionaries  of  the  Old 
Testament.  They  are  in  touch  with  the  world  powers 
and  problems  of  their  day.  They  are  statesmen  with 
the  broadest  possible  contacts.  They  interpret  the  pur- 
pose of  God  in  international  questions.  There  is  no 
higher  missionary  vocation  than  that  of  discovering  and 
interpreting  the  mission  of  the  nations. 

Another  fact  which  distinguished  the  Old  Testament 
prophets  from  all  the  other  writers  of  antiquity  is  that 
they  dream  and  write  of  a  golden  age  in  the  future. 
Historians  face  the  past,  but  the  great  prophets  face  the 
coming  day.  The  Greek  and  Latin  dassics  glorify  a 
golden  age  that  is  past.  The  prophets  glorify  a  golden 
age  to  come.  The  fact  that  the  prophets  of  the  Old 
Testament  always  have  their  faces  turned  toward  the 
future  brings  them  into  intimate  spiritual  fellowship 
with  the  missionary  leaders  of  to-day.  We  too  are 
dreaming  of  and  actually  engaged  in  the  work  of  bringing 
in  the  golden  age. 

There  is  a  new  note  in  the  writings  of  the  prophets, 
especially  in  that  part  of  Isaiah  which  has  been  called 
"The  Book  of  the  Consolation  of  the  Exile"  (Isa.  xl- 
Ixvi).  Most  of  the  followers  of  Jehovah  believed  that 
Jehovah  and  the  land  of  Palestine  were  inseparable. 
These  exiles  found  that  they  could  still  be  in  communion 
with  God  even  though  they  were  in  a  foreign  land. 
They  had  discovered  that  Jehovah  and  his  land  might 
be  separated  and  spiritual  worship  still  be  possible.  They 
also  discovered  that  there  was  one  better  thing  than 
the  return  from  exile,  and  that  was  to  be  a  witness  for 
Jehovah  in  a  foreign  land.    The  inevitable  logic  of  such 


i8  Efficiency  Points 

conclusions  is  that  Jehovah  is  not  the  God  of  Palestine 
alone  but  of  other  nations  as  well. 

The  message  of  the  prophets,  that  God  loves  righteous- 
ness above  every  other  thing  and  that  he  will  not  spare 
even  his  chosen  people  if  they  are  unrighteous,  is  a  mes- 
sage of  world-wide  significance  and  power. 

In  modern  days  it  has  been  discovered  that  Jonah  is 
one  of  the  great  missionary  books  of  the  Bible.  God's 
insistence  on  the  carrying  of  the  message  to  the  Ninevites 
is  forever  the  insistence  of  the  love  of  God  that  his 
people  carry  the  message  to  those  who  have  received  it 
not.  The  vigor  of  the  Ninevites  appeals  powerfully  to 
the  modern  mind.  It  is  true  that  they  were  wicked,  but 
it  is  also  true  that  they  were  strong  and  had  great  possi- 
bilities. The  writer  of  Nahum  ii.  3,  4 ;  iii.  1-3,  brings  to 
modern  readers  who  approach  the  problem  quite  a  differ- 
ent impression  from  that  which  was  intended  by  the 
prophet  Nahum  when  he  denounced  the  Ninevites  in  such 
burning  language.  Remembering  the  weakness  of  the 
Israelites  at  this  time,  the  comparison  between  them  and 
the  powerful  Ninevites  is  very  striking.  It  is  hardly 
possible  that  God  loves  weakness  in  his  chosen  people 
as  much  as  he  loves  strength  in  another  people  even 
though  they  have  not  yet  acknowledged  his  name.  The 
sailors,  rough,  heathen  men  though  they  were,  did  two 
things  in  the  midst  of  the  storm  that  showed  their  manli- 
ness of  character  by  a  very  painful  comparison  with  the 
actions  and  attitude  of  the  prophet  Jonah.  The  sailors 
prayed  and  rowed  hard  to  get  to  shore.  The  prophet 
neither  prayed  nor  rowed.  It  is  sometimes  true  that 
even  the  heathen  are  better  than  the  prophets  of  the 
Lord.    The  hook  of  Jonah  is  a  blow  at  Jewish  exclusive- 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  19 

ness.  It  is  a  call  to  evangelism.  It  revealed  the  universal 
love  and  fatherhood  of  God  to  a  narrow  and  provincial 
age.  There  is  no  message  which  the  Church  needs  to 
hear  and  hold  in  our  day  with  greater  tenacity  than  that 
of  the  universal  love  of  God  which  is  forever  seeking  to 
break  down  the  exclusiveness  of  the  people  of  God. 

The  limits  of  this  chapter  prevent  the  discussion  of  the 
closing  days  of  the  Old  Testament.  It  is  sufficient  to 
recall  the  fact  that  between  the  exile  and  the  coming  of 
Christ  there  is  a  steady,  growing  hope  of  a  coming  Mes- 
siah. The  last  days  before  the  advent  of  Christ  witnessed 
a  great  era  of  religious  activity.  One  of  the  evidences  of 
this  is  the  presence  of  so  many  non-Jews  in  the  syna- 
gogues in  the  time  of  Christ.  The  vigorous  conflict  be- 
tween the  exclusive  ideas  of  the  priestly  party  and  the 
new  spirit  of  the  prophets  raged  fiercely.  One  grew 
more  bitter  and  narrow,  the  other  more  liberal  and  re- 
sponsive to  international  ideas.  The  missionary  princi- 
ple was  beginning  to  work. 

The  New  Testament 

When  we  pass  out  of  the  Old  Testament  into  the  new 
we  pass  from  twilight  to  daybreak,  from  preparation  to 
achievement.  As  he  turned  the  leaves  of  the  New 
Testament  Henry  Ward  Beecher  once  thus  described  this 
portion  of  the  Bible:  "Four  biographies,  a  book  of 
travels,  a  bundle  of  letters,  and  a  dream."  The  four 
biographies  are  a  composite  photograph  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  world's  greatest  missionary.  The  book  of  travels  is 
a  record  of  the  journeys  and  service  of  a  group  of  mis- 
sionaries, and  tells  how  the  expansion  of  Christianity 
got  under  way.    The  bundle  of  letters  is  the  correspond- 


20  Efficiency  Points 

ence  of  busy  missionaries  with  fellow  missionaries  or  with, 
missionary  churches  which  they  founded,  or  concerning 
missionary  problems  which  pressed  for  solution.  The 
Revelation — the  "dream" — is  a  picture  of  the  final  and 
complete  triumph  of  Jesus  Christ.  Surely  he  was  right 
who  said,  "If  you  cut  missions  out  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, the  New  Testament  will  bleed  to  death." 

The  Gospels 

We  are  at  once  struck  by  the  cosmopolitan  character 
of  these  records.  Matthew  wrote  for  Jews,  Mark  for 
Romans,  Luke  for  Gentiles,  John  for  all  races  and, 
climes.  Jesus  was.  born  a  Jew,  under  Roman  law,  at  a 
period  when  Greek  influence  was  powerful.  "Palestine 
was  only  the  gateway  in,  for  Jesus  was  after  a  world." 

The  message  of  the  Gospels  is  a  universal  message. 
Jesus  thinks  and  speaks  in  universal  terms.  "The  earth," 
"the  world,"  "all,"  "whosoever,"  "the  kingdom  of  God," 
— these  are  inseparable  from  his  message.  The  parables 
which  speak  of  the  field  as  the  world,  the  leaven  working 
until  it  has  leavened  the  whole  lump,  and  all  nations 
gathered  together  before  Christ  for  judgment  are  not 
subject  to  a  merely  national  or  provincial  interpretation. 
Even  if  only  moderate  emphasis  is  put  upon  such  phrases 
as  "the  field  is  the  world,"  or  certain  parables  of  our 
Lord  with  little  significance  apart  from  their  world-wide 
meaning,  think  of  the  universal  content  of  the  great 
central  messages  of  Christ.  His  message  of  the  father- 
hood of  God  is  a  universal  message.  His  message  of  the 
brotherhood  of  man  is  a  world  message.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  his  message  regarding  prayer,  or  his  teachings 
regarding  the.  worth  of  man,  or  the  kingdom  of  God,, 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  21 

or  of  immortality.  Truly  Jesus  is  "the  light  which 
lighteth  every  man,  coming  into  the  world"  (John  i.  9), 
and  "the  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world"  (John  L  29),  and  his  flesh  is  given  "for  the  life 
of  the  world"  (John  vi.  51). 

Jesus  stood  for  the  protection  of  childhood,  lifted 
woman  into  her  true  place  of  power,  and  gave  a  new 
hope  to  the  unfit  and  the  outcast.  These  are  not  truths 
for  one  continent  but  for  all  continents. 

The  Lord's  prayer  is  rich  in  missionary  significance. 
Its  personal  pronouns  are  all  plural.  Its  intense  concern 
is  with  the  hallowing  of  the  name  of  God  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 

Jesus's  favorite  title  was  "Son  of  man."  This  is  not 
Jewish,  nor  racial,  nor  national,  but  human.  He  did  all 
possible  to  prevent  the  current  ideas  of  what  the  Messiah 
should  be  from  being  applied  to  him.  "I,  if  I  be  lifted  up 
from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  myself"  (John  xii. 
32). 

What  is  called  "the  Great  Commission"  is  found  in 
substance  in  all  four  Gospels,  in  the  opening  chapter  of 
the  Acts,  and  in  a  somewhat  different  form  in  a  direct 
revelation  to  the  apostle  Paul.  One  striking  thing  about 
this  sixfold  repetition  of  the  essential  facts  of  the  great 
commission  is  that  there  is  no  such  repetition  of  the  story 
of  the  birth  of  Jesus,  of  his  baptism,  or  temptation,  or 
transfiguration,  or  ascension,  as  of  the  great  commission. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  not  a  single  sermon  nor 
parable  nor  prayer  is  repeated  six  times.  Evidently  this 
repetition  is  intended  to  show  what  a  large  place  the 
missionary  program  has  in  the  redemptive  program  of 
the  New  Testament.    Christ  was  a  missionary.    His  mes- 


22  Efficiency  Points 

sage  IS  missionary,  for  his  parables  and  sermons  and 
prayers  have  more  than  a  provincial  or  racial  significance. 
His  fundamental  method  of  spreading  the  faith  is  per- 
sonal testimony.  This  method  will  always  be  the  central 
missionary  method. 

The  Acts 

This  book  is  the  first  volume  of  missionary  history. 
It  begins  with  representatives  of  many  nations  gathered 
at  the  founding  of  the  Church.  It  gives  special  attention 
to  the  revolutionary  change  in  the  thinking  and  life  of 
the  two  outstanding  characters  in  the  book,  Peter  and 
Paul.  The  unfolding  of  the  wide  purpose  of  God  pro- 
ceeds with  rapidity  after  Paul's  conversion  on  the  way 
to  Damascus  and  Peter's  experience  in  connection  with 
the  sheet  let  down  from  heaven.  The  far-reaching  con- 
quests which  followed  unmistakably  point  out  the  mis- 
sionary purpose  of  God.  The  book  is  an  inspiring  record 
of  the  missionary  activity  of  the  first  few  years  of  the 
Church's  life.  The  apostles  were  the  ''incarnation  of  a 
world  movement."  The  Acts  is  the  greatest  book  on 
expansion  in  the  Bible,  for  it  marks  the  inauguration  of 
that  program  which  is  being  vigorously  carried  out  in 
our  day. 

The  book  begins  with  the  Church  so  small  that  its 
members  can  be  accommodated  in  a  single  room.  It 
ends  with  bearers  of  the  Christian  message  pushed  out 
into  all  the  known  world.  Jerusalem,  Judea,  Samaria, 
Antioch,  Rome — these  in  swift  succession  are  centers  of 
missionary  activity.  Even  Spain  is  included  in  the  mis- 
sionary plans  of  Paul. 

The  Acts  gives  us  an  entirely  new  conception  of  the 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  23 

place  of  prayer  in  the  spread  of  Christianity.  There  are 
twenty-nine  references  to  prayer  in  the  twenty-eight  chap- 
ters of  the  book.  Intercession  begins  to  take  its  rightful 
place  as  a  conquering  force  in  the  world. 

The  Epistles 

The  Epistles  of  Paul  are  missionary  in  their  author- 
ship, in  their  destination,  and  in  their  message. 

The  missionary  author  of  these  Epistles  is  recognized 
as  the  greatest  man  of  his  age.  His  letters  are  directed 
to  the  churches  he  has  founded,  to  missionaries  like 
Timothy  and  Titus,  and  to  laymen  like  Philemon. 

The  fact  that  the  Epistles  are  missionary  in  their  au- 
thorship and  in  their  destination  makes  it  inevitable  that 
their  message  should  also  be  missionary.  They  grew 
out  of  Paul's  contact  with  the  non-Christian  peoples  of 
his  day  and  out  of  his  relations  with  the  churches  which 
he  had  founded.  The  writer  deals  with  the  practical 
questions  which  confront  new  churches.  Many  of  these 
are  still  burning  issues  in  the  mission  fields  of  the  modern 
Church.  How  to  deal  with  idolatry,  polygamy,  caste, 
intemperance,  extortion,  social  injustice,  the  Christian 
nurture  of  children,  the  great  and  destructive  sin  of 
covetousness — these  as  well  as  problems  of  administra- 
tion and  questions  of  doctrine  that  always  confront  the 
Church  militant  fill  the  pages  of  these  documents.  Paul 
writes  to  the  Galatians  to  defend  them  from  false  inter- 
pretations of  the  law;  to  Corinthians  and  Thessalonians, 
because  he  had  heard  of  certain  troubles  which  they  have 
had  and  he  wished  to  give  them  instruction  and  counsel, 
and  because  certain  false  conceptions  of  the  gospel  need 
correction. 


24  Efficiency  Points 

In  stating  the  place  of  the  Gentiles  in  the  world  plan 
of  Christ,  in  Romans  xv.  9-12,  Paul  quotes  from  three  of 
the  great  sources  of  information  in  the  Old  Testament — 
the  Psalms,  the  law,  and  the  prophets.  The  missionary 
note  in  Paul's  writings  is  not  occasional  nor  incidental 
but  constant  and  fundamental.  Paul  is  driven  on  by  a 
consuming  desire  to  make  Jesus  Christ  known  everywhere 
in  the  world  and  to  make  propagandists  of  those  who  are 
led  to  Christ.  Theological  arguments,  the  foundations  of 
doctrine,  these  are  found  in  the  main  current  of  his  life, 
but  the  missionary  passion  is  the  river  that  floats  them. 
It  is  this  spirit  which  many  a  time  through  the  centuries 
has  saved  theology  from  deadly  formality  and  blighting 
heresy.  The  missionary  point  of  view  is  found  in  every 
Epistle  of  his,  not  least  in  the  Epistle  to  Philemon,  that 
rare  sample  of  private  correspondence  in  which  he  main- 
tains that  even  Onesimus,  a  runaway  slave,  may  become 
a  brother  beloved  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ. 

Not  all  the  other  Epistles  are  so  strikingly  missionary 
as  those  of  Paul,  yet  they  are  not  without  evidence  of 
the  same  spirit. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  has  deep  missionary  sig- 
nificance, because  it  points  out  that  Judaism  is  filled  full 
by  Christ,  that  the  ritual  is  merged  into  universal  spiritual 
worship,  and  that  the  life  of  the  Old  Testament  is  poured 
into  new  and  widening  channels  of  blessing  in  Jesus 
Christ. 

Peter  was  very  slow  to  adopt  the  missionary  program, 
and  yet  his  first  Epistle  is  directed  to  "the  elect  who  are 
sojourners  of  the  Dispersion  in  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappa- 
docia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia"  (i  Pet.  i.  i). 

James  too  was  a  staunch  adherent  of  Jewish  orthodoxy 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  25 

and  conservatism  in  the  Jerusalem  church,  but  by  the 
time  he  writes  his  Epistle  his  message  is  not  to  an  indi- 
vidual or  to  a  city  but  to  believing  Jews  scattered 
throughout  the  world.  These  men  who  had  been  among 
the  most  conservative  have  now  taken  to  writing  in  cos- 
mopolitan terms  to  international  audiences. 

The  Epistles  of  John  are  very  rich  in  missionary  sig- 
nificance. No  more  interesting  illustration  of  this  could 
be  found  than  the  third  Epistle.  The  events  which  called 
out  the  Epistle  seem  to  be  about  as  follows.  Some  mis- 
sionaries, "for  the  sake  of  the  Name  they  went  forth" 
(vs.  7),  were  on  a  journey  (vs.  6),  either  going  home 
on  furlough  or  returning  to  their  mission  field.  They 
came  to  a  town  where  there  was  a  church.  John  had 
written  a  letter  of  introduction  to  the  church  (vs.  9). 
In  the  church  there  were  two  prominent  laymen,  Diotre- 
phes  and  Gaius.  The  first  was  probably  rich,  was  un- 
questionably selfish,  and  did  not  believe  in  missions,  "who 
loveth  to  have  the  preeminence  .  .  .  receiveth  us  not" 
(vs.  9),  "neither  doth  he  himself  receive  the  brethren, 
and  them  that  would  he  forbiddeth  and  casteth  them  out 
of  the  church"  (vs.  10).  He  did  not  believe  in  entertain- 
ing or  encouraging  missionaries  and  wasting  good  money 
on  "the  heathen."  The  other  layman  was  Gaius.  He  was 
sick,  it  would  seem  (vs.  2),  and  therefore  might  have  been 
excused  from  entertaining  the  missionaries  and  giving 
them  money,  but  he  does  both.  These  workers,  full  of 
gratitude  to  Gaius,  relate  their  experience  to  the  apostle. 
Out  of  his  loving  heart  John  writes  this  letter  to  Gaius, 
to  thank  him  for  his  help  and  to  assure  him  that  his  act 
has  made  him  a  sharer  in  the  triumphs  of  the  gospel 


26  Efficiency  Points 

(vs.  8).     Where  could  such  a  letter,  as  modern  as  this 
morning's  mail,  be  found  except  in  a  missionary  book  ? 

The  World's  Missionary  Book 

What  a  book  this  is  which  God  has  sent  forth!  It 
carries  in  its  heart  the  missionary  ideal.  It  is  alive  with 
creative  energy.  It  has  survived  for  all  these  centuries 
the  attacks  of  unbelievers  and  blasphemers.  It  has 
wrought  missionary  revolutions  by  changing  hopeless 
conditions  and  banishing  evil  and  injustice.  It  has  de- 
flected the  streams  of  history  and  transformed  races  and 
civilizations.  More  wonderful  still  it  has  outlived  the 
ignorance  and  fanaticism  and  provincialism  of  its  friends. 
It  has  borne  without  injury  impossible  demands  and  un- 
believable blindness, — all  this  with  undiminished  vitality 
and  unsurrendered  authority.  Shall  we  not  enter  into 
unceasing  prayer  and  unwearied  toil  that  the  Book  may 
speak  to  our  age  the  message  of  world  redemption  as 
yet  but  dimly  realized  and  indifferently  obeyed,  until 
every  disciple  shall  be  dominated  by  the  missionary  spirit, 
and  every  church  shall  be  aflame  with  the  redemptive  love 
of  Christ?  Then  at  length  shall  the  waiting  Christless 
millions  look  upon  the  face  of  Christ  and  be  quickened 
into  life. 


Missionary  Ideal  of  the  Bible  27 

REFERENCES  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

Bashford,  J.  W.  God's  Missionary  Plan  for  the  World.  Eaton 
&  Mains,  New  York.     $1.00. 

Carver,  W,  C.  Missions  in  the  Plan  of  the  Ages.  Fleming  H. 
Revell  Co.,  New  York.     $1.00. 

FiSKE,  Martha  T.  The  W-ord  and  the  World.  Student  Volun- 
teer Movement,  New  York.    40  cents. 

HoRTON,  R.  F.  The  Bible  a  Missionary  Book.  Pilgrim  Press, 
Boston.     $1.00. 

Watson,  Charles  R,  God's  Plan  for  World  Redemption. 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  United  Presbyterian  Church  in 
North  America,  Philadelphia.     $1.00. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    SPREAD    OF    CHRISTIANITY    BY    PERSONAL 
SERVICE 

The  world  will  be  evangelized  in  that  generation  in 
which  the  Church  rediscovers  the  spiritual  functions  of 
laymen  and  adjusts  its  teachings  and  program  of  work 
to  call  out  and  utilize  the  lay  forces  of  the  Church. 
The  responsibility  for  leadership  and  for  training  the 
Church  rests  on  the  ministry,  but  the  obligation  for 
service  rests  on  all.  The  mobilization  of  the  lay  forces 
of  the  Kingdom  will  be  the  glorious  achievement  of  a 
ministry  which  interprets  the  gospel  in  terms  of  its  com- 
plete personal,  social,  and  universal  implications.  The 
adequate  undertaking  of  the  missionary  program  de- 
mands of  laymen  instant  and  whole-hearted  obedience  to 
the  call  to  consecration  and  service.  A  life  reaches  the 
maximum  of  its  power  when  it  widens  sufficiently  so 
that  no  human  interests  are  foreign  to  it. 

A  Twentieth  Century  Reformation 

''A  miracle  is  to  conceive  such  an  object  of  endeavor 
and  to  put  forth  such  an  appeal  of  trust  as  shall  make 
possible  a  creative  new  departure  in  the  world."  Thus 
a  current  writer  has  phrased  a  definition  of  a  miracle. 
The  present  world  situation  fairly  bristles  with  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  creative  new  departure.  Among  factors 
which  would  of  necessity  be  included  in  bringing  about 

29 


30  Efficiency  Points 

such  a  transformation  is  the  restoration  to  laymen  of  the 
normal  functions  chartered  for  them  in  the  gospel.  In 
this  new  order  the  clergyman  will  neither  assume  that  he 
is  employed  to  perform  all  the  spiritual  ministries  of  the 
Church,  nor  will  he  neglect  his  share  of  personal  witness- 
ing to  the  power  of  Christ  in  the  daily  life  of  his  com- 
munity, not  as  an  ecclesiastic,  but  as  a  man.  When  this 
happens  the  spiritual  ministries  of  the  Church  will  not 
all  be  performed  by  one  class  but  will  be  shared  by  all 
disciples.  The  revolt  in  the  Church  is  not  against  gen- 
uine leadership.  Wherever  there  is  a  man  with  the 
prophetic  message  and  the  ability  to  set  other  men  at 
work  there  is  no  revolt.  Rather  the  protest  is  against 
professionalism,  against  an  unfruitful  ecclesiasticism  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  voiceless,  passionless  state  of  many 
laymen  on  the  other. 

When  all  the  communicants  in  the  Church  are  properly 
set  at  work,  then  all  personal  ideals  will  center  in  the  uni- 
versal Christ  and  all  social  ideals  culminate  in  the  king- 
dom of  God. 

In  the  report  of  a  Commission  on  'The  Place  of  the 
Laity  in  the  Church,''  of  which  E.  W.  Halford  was 
chairman,  the  following  stirring  words  are  found: 

'The  uprising  of  men,  in  the  midst  of  which  we  now 
are  and  of  which  the  Laymen's  Missionary  Movement 
is  one  phase,  can  readily  be  seen  to  be  of  like  essential 
character  with  other  reformatory  movements  and  upris- 
ings that  have  marked  the  pathway  of  the  advancing 
Church.  We  may  define  it  as  we  will ;  we  may  charac- 
terize it  as  we  think  best.  But  the  plain  truth  is  that 
the  Church  is  still  in  unrest  because  the  one  fundamental 
truth  upon  which  it  alone  can  rest — the  oneness  of  all 


Spread  of  Christianity  by  Service  31 

believers  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  absolute  equality  in 
privilege  and  responsibility  of  every  member  of  the 
Church  of  God — has  not  been  universally  vitalized.  The 
present  uprising  of  men  is  not  only  a  confession  but  a 
protest.  It  is  a  confession  that  the  great  body  of  Chris- 
tian laymen  have  not  been  cognizant  or  careful  of  privi- 
lege or  duty,  and  a  protest  against  conditions  that  have 
weakened  and  do  still  weaken  the  Church  in  a  greater  or 
less  degree  and  prevent  it  from  properly  interpreting  to 
the  world  the  Christ  of  whom  it  is  the  only  organized 
visible  representative,  and  of  whom  it  must  be  the  vice- 
gerent on  earth  of  the  kingdom  that  is  to  come. 

"The  'reformation'  now  on  may  prove  one  of  the 
mightiest  forward  movements  in  human  annals  if  only 
laymen  will  reclaim  and  maintain  and  worthily  fill  that 
place  in  the  Church  to  which  the  law  of  God  entitles  them, 
and  to  which  they  are  commanded  by  the  exigent  necessi- 
ties of  the  kingdom  of  Christ."  ^ 

The  Way  Out 

How  shall  the  laity  be  made  to  feel  the  responsibility, 
and  so  be  qualified  to  regain  their  rightful  place  in  the 
Church  of  Christ?  Having  regained  it,  what  shall  they 
do  for  the  Kingdom? 

I.     There  Must  Be  a  New  Emphasis  on  the  Spiritual 
Character  of  All  Honorable  Vocations 

One  of  the  great  needs  of  our  time  is  that  men  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  all  trades  and  professions  in  which 
Christian  men  engage  are  intended  to  be  ministries.    The 

^  Pages  14,  15. 


S2  Efficiency  Points 

genius  for  organization,  the  gift  for  making  money,  are 
as  truly  gifts  of  God  as  the  gift  for  preaching.  That  is 
a  fine  sentiment  expressed  by  Kendrick  in  Grace  Rich- 
mond's Twenty  Fourth  of  June,  when  in  consultation 
with  some  young  business  men,  including  his  own  son,  he 
sums  up  the  conception  of  what  a  business  career  should 
be  by  saying :  **The  most  important  thing  a  business  can 
do  is  to  make  men  of  those  who  make  the  business." 
Any  calling  which  fails  here  has  not  been  conceived  of  as 
a  ministry.  Every  kind  of  business  engaged  in  by  Chris- 
tian men  must  be  tested  by  its  effect  on  personal  charac- 
ter and  service. 

The  truth  that  we  are  here  discussing  is  powerfully 
brought  out  in  a  book  every  layman  should  study  entitled 
The  Will  of  God  and  a  Man's  Life  Work  by  Henry  B. 
Wright.  Some  of  the  themes  discussed  in  this  book  are 
that  every  man's  life  is  a  plan  of  God,  that  the  will  of 
God  for  every  life  is  discoverable,  that  the  will  of  God 
may  be  done  in  every  honorable  calling,  how  the  will 
of  God  may  be  known,  and  the  issues  of  acceptance  or 
rejection  of  God's  will.  All  these  matters  are  of  su- 
preme concern  to  every  layman.  One  passage  from  the 
Preface  is  quoted :  'The  call  of  God  is  popularly  inter- 
preted as  a  call  to  the  professional  ministry.  Law,  busi- 
ness, teaching,  medicine,  engineering,  and  like  profes- 
sions are  distinguished  as  secular.  They  are  regarded  as 
fields  into  which  a  man  may  enter  without  relation  to 
God's  will — realms  in  which  more  latitude  is  allowed 
to  the  individual  in  personal  morals  and  in  manner 
of  life,  and  within  which  he  is  largely  released  from 
responsibility  for  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of 
God. 


Spread  of  Christianity  by  Service  33 

*'Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles,  however,  entertained  no 
such  conception  of  the  so-called  'secular'  professions.  .  .  . 
All  lay  Christians  are  priests  as  well  as  are  ministers; 
their  priesthood  differs  only  in  degree,  not  in  kind."  As 
Bishop  W.  A.  Quayle  has  well  put  it,  "The  layman  is 
not  given  over  to  religion  as  a  vocation,  but  given  over  to 
religion  as  a  life.  As  regards  technical  skill  he  is  a  lay- 
man, as  regards  participation  in  holy  things  he  is  an 
adept."  ^ 

A  new  day  in  the  world  expansion  of  Christianity 
will  dawn  when  all  honorable  callings  engaged  in  by 
Christian  men  are  regarded  as  opportunities  for  ministry 
to  mankind. 

2.     Laymen  Must  Recognise  the  Place  in  the  Spread  of 
Christianity  Given  to  Them  by  God 

A  carpenter  shop  may  not  seem  a  likely  place  from 
which  should  come  the  leader  of  a  world  movement. 
Men  who  toil  with  their  hands  as  well  as  their  brains 
and  hearts  can  never  forget  that  Jesus  was  a  carpenter 
and  that  most  of  his  ministry  was  carried  on,  not  in  the 
synagogue  nor  according  to  the  custom  of  the  clergy 
of  his  day,  but  his  field  of  operations  was  the  place  of 
daily  toil  or  social  intercourse — the  hillside,  the  market- 
place, the  open  country,  the  city,  the  street,  the  fisher- 
man's boat,  around  the  supper  table. 

All  the  authors  of  the  New  Testament  books  were 
called  to  service  from  ordinary  professions,  except  Paul, 
who  was  trained  for  a  rabbi.  Matthew  was  a  govern- 
ment official,  Mark  a  rich  young  man  from  a  comfortable 
Jerusalem  home.     Luke  was  a  physician,  John  a  fisher- 

^  Laymen  in  Action,  14. 


34  Efficiency  Points 

man,  Paul  a  tentmaker,  James  and  Jude  leaders  in  the 
Jerusalem  church. 

The  Acts  strikingly  illustrates  the  fact  that  the  whole 
Church  is  a  missionary  organization.  Cornelius,  the 
soldier  (Acts  x.  2),  is  a  man  of  prayer  and  fragrant 
deeds.  Barnabas,  a  companion  and  fellow  mission- 
ary with  Paul,  is  an  ideal  worker.  His  biography  is 
summed  up  in  three  phrases  (Acts  xi.  24)  :  "He  was 
a  good  man" — he  had  character;  ''full  of  faith" — he  had 
a  vital  creed ;  "full  of  the  Holy  Spirit" — he  had  a  living 
experience.  Any  man  who  has  these  three  qualifications 
is  surely  called  of  God  to  spread  Christianity. 

Paul's  use  of  his  lay  helpers  is  an  inspiring  record. 
Who  can  read  the  list  of  heroic  souls,  both  men  and 
women,  in  such  a  series  of  greetings  as  that  given  in 
Romans  xvi  without  hearing  the  battle  call,  the  sum- 
mons to  leap  into  the  ranks?  There  was  Erastus,  the 
treasurer  of  the  great  city  of  Corinth.  What  a  fight 
he  had  on  hand  to  keep  from  graft  and  hold  steady,  sur- 
rounded by  godless  fellow  officials!  What  a  picture 
rises  up  as  we  read  his  name !  Then  there  were  Priscilla 
and  Aquila,  who  did  so  much  for  Apollos  (Acts  xviii. 
24-28)  ;  Phoebe,  too,  "a  servant  of  the  church  ...  at 
Cenchrese"  (Rom.  xvi.  i).  Think  of  a  woman  sent 
on  the  long  and  perilous  journey  from  Corinth  to  Rome 
to  carry  Paul's  letter  to  the  church  at  Rome!  Well 
does  Renan  say,  "Phoebe  carried  under  the  folds  of  her 
robe  the  whole  future  of  Christian  theology."  These  are 
but  samples. 

The  need  for  trained  leadership,  for  the  calling  out  of 
men  to  give  their  time  to  the  propagation  of  the  faith 
and  to  the  preparation  of  other  workers  was  early  recog- 


Spread  of  Christianity  by  Service  35 

nized.  In  other  words,  the  ordained  ministry  grew  out 
of  the  necessities  of  the  case.  As  Paul  nears  the  end 
of  his  life,  he  calls  out  and  sets  apart  men  like  Timothy 
and  Titus  for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  He  never  in- 
tended that  such  workers  should  have  a  monopoly  of 
the  spiritual  ministries  but  that  they  should  be  the  leaders 
in  training  and  sending  forth  the  Church.  All  honor 
to  the  noble  army  of  heroic  men  in  the  ministry!  Not 
one  word  would  we  say  to  detract  from  their  position 
of  dignity  and  power.  To  no  other  group  of  men  can 
the  Church  look  for  like  leadership,  but  without  the  co- 
operation of  laymen  and  the  contribution  of  their 
service  Httle  progress  is  possible. 

Lord  Kitchener  is  reported  to  have  said,  "Generals 
may  win  battles  but  armies  wun  campaigns."  Our  su- 
preme concern  is  that  the  campaign  be  won.  This  is 
impossible  without  the  laymen,  and  any  conception  of 
the  Christian  life  which  limits  service  to  one  class  of  men 
makes  defeat  inevitable. 

J.     Laymen  Must  Evangelize 

The  transmission  of  the  Christian  message  is  the  duty 
of  all  until  all  have  heard.  It  surely  is  not  the  design  of 
Christ  that  the  modern  minister  should  be  an  Atlas 
standing  alone  bearing  the  world  on  his  shoulders.  The 
world  will  never  be  evangelized  by  the  one  method  of 
preaching  from  the  pulpit.  It  will  be  evangelized  by 
genuine  witnessing  in  the  market-place,  in  the  mines  and 
shops  and  factories  and  schools  and  offices  and  far  fron- 
tiers as  well  as  in  the  churches.  The  fundamental  method 
of  spreading  Christianity  is  testimony.     Life  speaks  to 


^6  Efficiency  Points 

life  and  every  man  who  is  in  vital  touch  with  Jesus  Christ 
is  called  to  win  other  men  to  faith  in  him. 

The  test  of  the  efficiency  of  the  Church  is  not  how 
many  has  it  attracted  to  its  membership  but  how  many 
of  its  members  have  been  constrained  by  love  to  go  forth 
to  some  service  in  the  Kingdom.  What  the  Church  needs 
is  such  genuine  life  as  will  make  service  compelling. 
The  Church  exists  for  those  outside  its  membership 
quite  as  much  as  for  those  inside.  The  Christian  life  is 
a  double  shield,  on  one  side  of  which  is  emblazoned 
"Come"  and  on  the  other  side  "Go." 

In  the  Acts  the  whole  Church  was  an  "Evangeliza- 
tion Union."  "They  .  .  .  that  were  scattered  abroad 
went  about  preaching  the  word"  (Acts  viii.  4).  Who 
were  these  firebrands  spreading  the  Christian  conflagra- 
tion ?  It  was  not  the  apostles,  for  the  record  says,  "They 
were  all  scattered  abroad  .  .  .  except  the  apostles"  (Acts 
viii.  i).  Alas  for  the  Church  that  she  ever  lost  that 
plan  of  campaign! 

To  quote  from  The  Will  of  God  and  a  Man's  Life 
Work:  "The  clergyman  gathers  the  laymen  about  him, 
instructs  them  in  methods  and  inspires  them  with  motive ; 
the  laymen  go  forth  into  the  world  having  caught  the 
great  meaning  of  the  truth  of  Jesus — 'The  kingdom  of 
God  is  in  the  midst  of  you' — that  is,  not  in  the  church 
edifice  nor  in  a  Zion  city  (John  iv.  21),  but  right  in  one's 
own  profession,  wherever  one  has  intercourse  with  men, 
there  is  the  place  where  he,  not  the  clergyman,  can  best 
accomplish  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  tent- 
maker  among  the  tent-makers ;  the  fisherman  among  the 
other  fishermen  casting  their  nets;  you,  the  teacher 
among  your  colleagues  and  pupils  as  you  teach ;  you,  the 


Spread  of  Christianity  by  Service  37 

physician  or  lawyer,  among  your  patients  or  clients  as 
you  practise;  you,  the  engineer,  among  your  assistants, 
especially  among  the  Italians  who  dig  the  ditches  for 
your  survey — wherever  a  layman  is  in  contact  with  a 
body  of  men,  there  is  his  parish  for  active  evangeliza- 
tion. .  .  .  The  Christian  layman  who  is  a  specialist  in 
his  line  has  access  to  the  minds  and  hearts  of  his  asso- 
ciates. He  can  translate  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus 
into  terms  which  his  associates  can  understand  and  will 
respect."  ^ 

'The  prevalent  modern  idea  that,  if  a  man  decides  not 
to  be  a  missionary  or  a  minister,  he  is  reheved  from  all 
further  responsibility  for  Christian  work,  is  utterly  false 
and  pernicious.  The  decision  not  to  be  a  clergyman,  if  a 
man  be  a  Christian  at  all,  is  in  fact  his  act  of  enlistment 
in  active  evangelization.  The  clergyman  may  spend  much 
time  in  his  study  with  the  theory  of  religion.  We  shall 
find  no  fault  with  him  if  he  does.  But  the  layman  must 
evangelize.  The  idea  that  all  the  Christian  layman  is 
under  obligations  to  do  is  to  be  an  officer  in  the  church, 
make  a  regular  contribution  or  hold  down  a  pew  on 
Sunday,  is  pagan.  It  is  just  as  ridiculous  as  if  at  the 
outbreak  of  a  war  the  cadets  at  West  Point  and  all  the 
graduates  should  club  together  and  hire  the  instructors 
there  to  go  to  the  front  and  do  the  fighting  while  they 
either  sit  and  look  on,  hear  the  reports  from  the  front, 
or  listen  to  the  military  band."  ^ 

Those  are  inspiring  words  spoken  by  the  daughter  of 

the  Rev.  Hugh  Price  Hughes,  one  of  the  modern  prophets 

of  Great  Britain,  in  her  biography  of  her  father.     ''He 

recovered  for  his  church  the  ancient  passion  for  souls 

*  Page  95-  '  Page  98. 


38  Efficiency  Points 

and  set  it  in  the  stream  of  modern  life."  Many  a  minis- 
ter and  many  a  layman  too  has  ''the  ancient  passion  for 
souls,"  but  beats  his  head  against  a  wall  because  he  is 
out  of  touch  with  "the  stream  of  modern  life."  But 
more  tragic  still,  many  a  disciple  is  in  the  swift  and 
deep  current  of  modern  life  who  has  never  had,  or  if  he 
had  has  lost,  that  priceless  treasure  ''the  ancient  passion 
for  souls."  Blessed  is  he  who,  taught  by  the  ever-living 
Christ,  knows  how  to  enthrone  this  divine  flame  of  an 
intense  love  for  men  among  the  actual  working  forces 
of  our  new  day. 

That  there  is  need  for  emphasis  upon  lay  evangelism  is 
apparent  from  a  study  of  the  statistics  of  the  churches 
as  given  out  by  Mr.  H.  K.  Carroll.  The  figures  show 
that  thete  were  in  America  224,172  churches  of  all  com- 
munions, Catholic  and  Protestant,  in  1913  and  225,613  in 
1914,  a  gain  of  1,441  churches.  It  therefore  required 
the  combined  efforts  of  155  churches  to  produce  one 
new  church.  The  total  membership  of  the  churches  in 
1914  is  given  as  38,708,149,  an  increase  for  the  year  of 
763,078  members.  Averaging  these  figures  shows  that 
the  united  efforts  of  fifty  church-members  for  a  whole 
year  resulted  in  the  addition  of  one  new  member.  Each 
church  in  America  during  1914  added  to  its  member- 
ship a  little  more  than  three  persons  on  the  average. 
Depressing  as  these  facts  are,  it  is  encouraging  to  note 
that  these  figures  are  considerably  better  than  the  record 
of  several  of  the  preceding  years.  The  fact  has  often 
been  stated  that  approximately  eighty  per  cent,  of  the 
church-members  come  from  the  Sunday-school,  but  while 
the  school  presents  the  most  favorable  opportunity  to  per- 
suade young  people  to  become  followers  of  Jesus  Christ, 


Spread  of  Christianity  by  Service 


39 


only  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  members  of  the  Sunday- 
school  ever  become  communicant  members  of  the  church. 
Surely  the  vast  majority  of  church-members  must  have 
forgotten  that  they  are  to  be  winners  of  others! 


KANSAS 


PLACES    REACHED    BY    WICHITA    GOSPEL    TEAMS 


One  of  the  striking  current  efforts  to  change  all  this 
is  seen  in  the  Gospel  Team  work  now  going  on  in  various 
parts  of  the  country.  It  began  at  Wichita,  Kansas.  In 
1911  Mr.  Sunday  led  a  revival  campaign  in  Wichita  in 
which  over  five  thousand  professed  conversion  or  re- 
newed their  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ.  Then  came  the 
Men  and  Religion  Forward  Movement  with  its  program 
of  work.  The  first  Gospel  Team  was  organized  in  Janu- 
ary, 1912.  Like  all  the  others  since  organized,  it  was 
made  up  of  business  men.  Pastors  who  recognize  the 
hand  of  God  in  a  movement  of  this  sort  have  done  all 
in  their  power  to  encourage  the  work  and  enlist  their 


40  Efficiency  Points 

men.  Four  elements  enter  into  the  team  work:  first, 
they  rely  on  testimony — not  preaching;  second,  there  is 
personal  dealing  with  individual  men  who  need  Christ; 
third,  there  is  always  prayer ;  fourth,  they  expect  imme- 
diate and  definite  results.  Instead  of  one  team  there  are 
now  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  teams  enlisting 
over  forty-five  hundred  men.  In  Wichita  alone  there 
are  twenty-eight  teams.  They  have  visited  56  places  in 
the  city  and  132  outside  and  report  3,246  conversions 
and  renewals.^ 

In  Columbus,  Ohio,  as  a  result  of  a  similar  evangelistic 
campaign,  an  organization  called  the  Tabernacle  Work- 
ers carries  on  the  same  type  of  work.  The  president  of 
the  organization,  Mr.  Bert  Gill,  was  a  saloon-keeper 
when  Mr.  Sunday  began  his  work  in  Columbus.  Mr. 
Gill  was  led  to  Christ  in  one  of  the  meetings.  He  did 
not  return  to  the  saloon  even  to  get  the  money  out  of 
the  cash  drawer  but  turned  the  key  over  to  a  lawyer 
and  requested  him  to  close  out  the  business.  The  Taber- 
nacle Workers  led  to  Christ  more  than  three  thousand 
persons  up  to  June,  191 5. 

Who  are  these  men?  Merchants,  lawyers,  manufac- 
turers, judges,  artizans,  teachers,  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men.  Tremaine  says,  'The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  most  potential  organism  in  the  world,  but  it  is 
working  at  low  speed  and  half  power."  Bishop  Williams 
maintains,  in  speaking  of  the  Church,  "She  does  not 
hitch  the  big  motives  of  her  faith  to  big  enough  jobs. 
She  uses  a  CorHss  engine  to  run  mechanical  toys."  If 
these  statements  are  true,  then  the  Gospel  Team  may 
well  be  one  means  of  changing  conditions  because  the 

^  "La^jj3«j  m  GP5pel  Work." 


Spread  of  Christianity  by  Service  41 

personal  grapple  with  men  whose  lives  are  full  of  sin  to 
persuade  them  to  become  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
soul-testing  business.  One  of  the  many  blessings  of  such 
personal  work  is  that  it  inspires  the  men  who  engage 
in  it  to  adopt  high  standards  of  experience  and  life. 
Either  there  will  be  deepening  devotion  to  Jesus  Christ 
on  the  part  of  the  men  or  they  will  cease  to  win  other 
men  to  faith  in  Jesus  Christ. 

4,    Laymen  Must  Be  Sharers  in  the  Social  Ministry  of 
the  Church 

There  can  be  no  complete  or  adequate  interpretation 
of  Christianity  which  does  not  recognize  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  Church  in  its  corporate  life  for  the  welfare 
of  the  community.  Any  merely  personal  appropriation 
of  the  benefits  of  the  gospel  represents  an  imperfect  con- 
ception of  the  person  and  program  of  Jesus  Christ.  The 
social  work  of  the  Church  is  the  organized  kindness 
of  the  Church  ministering  to  the  entire  life  of  the  com- 
munity. All  wholesome  plans  for  the  conservation  and 
enrichment  of  the  community  life  must  be  welcomed  and 
promoted  in  and  by  the  Church. 

The  social  message  of  the  Church  should  never  be 
simply  one  of  protest  or  denunciation.  Christian  criti- 
cism should  be  constructive  criticism.  Denunciation  of 
graft  and  selfishness  and  injustice  and  evil  in  every 
form  must  be  accompanied  by  a  constructive  program 
of  reformation  and  uplift. 

The  Church  must  reincarnate  the  spirit  of  Jesus  in  his 
personal  attitude  toward  the  ordinary  life  of  the  people. 
As  Jesus  did,  so  the  Church  must  show  its  interest  in 


42  Efficiency  Points 

all  men,  in  their  health,  their  economic  life,  their  plea- 
sures, their  children,  and  in  the  conditions  under  which 
they  live  and  work.  In  short,  the  Church  must  share 
with  Christ  his  conception  of  the  worth  of  persons. 

There  rests  upon  the  Church  the  responsibility  for 
creating  a  righteous  industrial  order.  It  must  recognize 
and  utilize  the  spiritual  and  moral  values  of  the  feminist 
movement,  the  temperance  movement,  the  play  move- 
ment, the  organizations  and  aspirations  of  the  labor 
world.  All  these  and  many  more  are  in  the  special  field 
where  the  service  of  the  Christian  layman  is  sorely 
needed.  He  is  the  one  who  must  demand  and  help 
to  secure  pure  and  just  government.  In  bringing  in  the 
kingdom  of  God  in  his  community  he  can  give  unan- 
swerable proof  of  the  sincerity  and  genuineness  of  his 
faith.  He  is  the  one  to  demonstrate  that  the  gospel  is 
adequate  to  meet  modern  social  conditions.  Laymen 
should  welcome  service,  not  only  on  church  boards  and 
committees  but  also  in  any  organizations  which  have  to 
do  with  the  welfare  and  uplift  of  the  community.  There 
are  many  of  these  in  every  large  city.  Special  attention 
is  here  called  to  a  book  in  the  list  at  the  end  of  this 
chapter  entitled  The  Church  a  Community  Force,  This 
is  a  story  of  how  one  church  has  related  itself  in 
helpful  ministry  to  all  the  complex  life  of  a  modern 
city. 

The  small  towns  and  countrysides  also  furnish  their 
baffling  social  problems  calling  for  efficient  organization 
and  all  the  wisdom  and  courage  and  consecration  of  the 
strongest  men.  The  Making  of  a  Country  Parish,  an- 
other book  found  in  the  same  list,  is  the  history  of  a 
church  which  recognized  its  duty  to  the  rural  community 


Spread  of  Christianity  by  Service  43 

and  put  to  the  test  its  faith  in  the  country  church.  The 
results  make  inspiring  reading. 

One  of  the  first  things  to  be  done  in  any  community 
is  to  make  a  painstaking  and  scientific  analysis  and  sur- 
vey of  conditions.  With  these  facts  in  hand  the  next 
step  is  resolutely  to  apply  the  principles  of  efficiency  to 
the  problems  revealed.  In  many  cases  a  community 
council  might  v^ell  be  organized  federating  all  the  forces 
of  uplift  in  the  life  of  the  community  for  the  conduct  of 
educational  campaigns  and  for  united  action.  The  school, 
the  civic  associations,  the  commercial  organizations,  the 
grange,  the  charity  organizations — all  these  and  many 
more  have  important  social  functions  and  opportunities. 
The  Church  should  infuse  the  spirit  of  Christ  into  them 
all. 

As  a  brief  but  comprehensive  summary  of  social  ideals 
and  responsibility,  we  give  in  full  a  document  adopted 
by  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches  of  Christ  on  Decem- 
ber 9,  1912. 

The  Churches  Must  Stand: 

For  equal  rights  and  complete  justice  for  all  men  in  all  sta- 
tions of  life. 

For  the  protection  of  the  family,  by  the  single  standard  of 
purity,  uniform  divorce  laws,  proper  regulation  of  marriage,  and 
proper  housing. 

For  the  fullest  possible  development  for  every  child,  es- 
pecially by  the  provision  of  proper  education  and  recreation. 

For  the  abolition  of  child  labor. 

For  such  regulation  of  the  conditions  of  toil  for  women  as 
shall  safeguard  the  physical  and  moral  health  of  the  com- 
munity. 

For  the  abatement  and  prevention  of  poverty. 


44  Efficiency  Points 

For  the  protection  of  the  individual  and  society  from  the 
social,  economic,  and  moral  waste  of  the  liquor  traffic. 

For  the  conservation  of  health. 

For  the  protection  of  the  worker  from  dangerous  machinery, 
occupational  diseases,  and  mortality. 

For  the  right  of  all  men  to  the  opportunity  for  self-mainte- 
nance, for  safeguarding  this  right  against  encroachments  of 
every  kind,  and  for  the  protection  of  workers  from  the  hard- 
ships of  enforced  unemployment. 

For  suitable  provision  for  the  old  age  of  the  workers,  and  for 
those  incapacitated  by  injury. 

For  the  right  of  employees  and  employers  alike  to  organize; 
and  for  adequate  means  of  conciliation  and  arbitration  in  indus- 
trial disputes. 

For  a  release  from  employment  one  day  in  seven. 

For  the  gradual  and  reasonable  reduction  of  the  hours  of 
labor  to  the  lowest  practicable  point,  and  for  that  degree  of 
leisure  for  all  which  is  a  condition  of  the  highest  human  life. 

For  a  living  wage  as  a  minimum  in  every  industry,  and  for 
the  highest  wage  that  each  industry  can  afford. 

For  a  new  emphasis  upon  the  application  of  Christian  prin- 
ciples to  the  acquisition  and  use  of  property,  and  for  the  most 
equitable  division  of  the  product  of  industry  that  can  ultimately 
be  devised. 

The  limits  of  space  forbid  a  further  discussion  of 
practical  avenues  of  social  service.  The  Committee  on 
Church  and  Country  Life  and  the  Committee  on  Social 
Service  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ 
in  America,  will  gladly  put  the  reader  in  touch  with  the 
latest  literature  and  plans.  The  volume  on  Social  Service 
of  the  Men  and  Religion  Movement  Messages  is  rich  in 
inspiration  and  practical  suggestions. 


Spread  of  Christianity  by  Service  45 

5.     Laymen  Are  Sumtnoned  to  World  Conquest 

In  a  statement  to  the  Pan-Anglican  Congress  in  Lon- 
don in  1908,  Mr.  Silas  McBee  began  his  address  on  'The 
Layman  in  Missionary  Work"  with  the  following  sen- 
tences: "The  conversion  of  the  world  waits  on  the 
conversion  of  the  laity  from  passive  to  active  member- 
ship in  Christ.  When  the  change  from  passive  profes- 
sion to  living  service  is  effected,  the  Church  will  present 
itself  in  a  new  aspect  and  its  missionary  power  will  be 
resistless.  Missionary  work  is  now  delegated  almost 
wholly  to  a  selected  official  class,  to  clergymen  and  lay- 
men and  lay  women  chosen  for  specific  tasks.  It  is  as  if 
the  officers  and  non-commissioned  officers  of  an  army 
were  sent  forth  to  conquer  a  mighty  host,  with  no  army 
to  fight  battles  and  win  victories.  Missionaries  are  sup- 
ported by  some  of  the  laity — always,  in  every  com- 
munion, by  only  a  part  of  those  who  have  been  baptized 
in  Christ — who  have  been  set  apart  to  fight  his  battles. 
The  effort  to  convert  the  world  through  an  official  class 
has  continued  so  long  that  the  great  majority  of  the 
laity  have  lost  the  sense  of  their  own  mission.  The 
churches  are  to-day  endeavoring  to  convert  the  world 
by  official  proclamations  of  the  gospel  instead  of  by  a 
steady,  active,  and  progressive  spread  of  the  life  of  the 
Christian  society  which  our  Lord  established  for  the 
saving  of  the  world.  The  family  idea,  the  society  idea, 
the  Church  idea  has  been  so  far  lost  that  it  seems  not 
to  occur  to  a  Church  to  send  a  whole  community  of 
Christians  into  a  virgin  missionary  field  in  order  to  im- 
part the  life  of  the  Christian  society  as  leaven  leavens 


46  Efficiency  Points 

a  lump — to  Christianize  the  world  as  it  has  been  col- 
onized." 

After  speaking  of  the  evil  results  of  the  inadequate 
place  given  laymen  in  missionary  service  in  foreign  lands, 
Mr.  McBee  continues:  ''But  while  this  is  clearly  true 
in  the  foreign  field,  it  is  even  more  disastrously  true  at 
home.  The  mischief  at  home  is  incalculable.  The  pas- 
sive attitude  of  the  great  body  of  Christians  leaves  the 
conversion  of  the  life  of  the  nations  at  home  almost 
wholly  to  an  official  Christianity.  The  nations  are  now 
influencing,  in  many  respects  are  shaping,  the  destinies 
of  the  non-Christian  nations.  The  first  evil  effect  is 
failure  to  support  missionary  work  in  an  adequate  way 
in  lives  and  money.  The  laity  are  not  conscious  of  what 
it  means  to  be  a  Christian,  to  be  coworkers  with  Christ 
in  his  family,  the  Church.  The  second,  and  more  damag- 
ing effect  is  the  sending  of  an  unchristian  and  materialis- 
tic commercialism  into  the  non-Christian  parts  of  the 
world  from  civilizations  nominally  Christian.  Both  de- 
fects are  due  to  the  failure  of  the  great  body  of  laymen 
in  the  Christian  churches  to  combine  in  active,  living 
service.  Only  so  can  the  life  of  the  Church  be  brought 
to  bear  on  the  civilizations  that  are  called  after  his 
name." 

There  is  a  multitude  of  men  still  active  in  commercial 
or  professional  life  who  nevertheless  give  first  place  to 
the  work  of  spreading  Christianity.  The  gospel  carries 
in  its  heart  the  duty  of  propagating  it.  The  actual  and 
literal  forsaking  of  old  pursuits  for  the  direct  work  of 
the  Kingdom  is  only  one  phase  of  response.  The  great 
Cpmmission  includes  the  following  elements: 


Spread  of  Christianity  by  Service  47 

Go! 

Get  Others  to  Go ! 

Let  Others  Go! 

Support  Others  Who  Go! 

Men  in  commercial  and  professional  pursuits  everywhere 
are  rising  up  in  response  to  the  call  of  Christ  to  do  one 
or  all  of  these  things. 

Some  Practical  Ways  to  Respond 

Men  may  link  the  power  of  the  Church  to  the  re- 
demptive work  of  the  Kingdom  in  organizing  and  direct- 
ing the  educational  and  financial  programs  of  the  Church. 

This  is  an  hour  when  there  is  an  insistent  demand  for 
men  of  vision  and  talent  to  teach  in  the  Sunday-schools 
and  to  give  the  Brotherhoods  and  Adult  Bible  Classes  a 
program  big  enough  to  sustain  them  permanently.  A 
strong,  virile,  masculine  note  is  needed  in  all  the  teach- 
ing ministries  of  the  Church. 

Some  men  are  investing  all  their  income  above  actual 
running  expenses  in  the  enterprises  of  Christianity. 
Others  who  have  a  competency  and  who  could  retire 
from  business  and  take  life  easy  remain  in  business  that 
they  may  devote  their  earnings  to  Christian  work.  Others 
are  supporting  a  worker  or  a  group  of  workers  or  even 
whole  mission  stations  as  their  income  may  permit. 
While  this  is  no  adequate  substitute  for  actual  personal 
witnessing  to  the  power  of  Christ,  since  no  man  can 
give  money  enough  to  Christian  work  to  excuse  him 
from  personal  ministry,  it  is  evidence  of  a  new  spirit 
of  service  by  laymen  and  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new 
day  for  the  Church. 


4^  Efficiency  Points 

There  are  multitudes  of  men  in  business  who  manage 
great  armies  of  subordinates  like  generals,  who  live  with 
a  telephone  at  one  elbow,  with  telegraph  messengers 
within  instant  call,  for  whom  the  wireless  hums  its  song 
of  labor  so  that  they  may  keep  their  fingers  on  the 
power  centers  of  the  planet:  men  who  constantly  have 
automobiles  at  the  door  to  carry  them  swiftly  from  one 
appointment  to  another,  men  to  whom  transactions  run- 
ning up  into  seven  figures  scarcely  cause  an  extra  heart- 
beat. How  can  men  such  as  these  be  persuaded  to  spend 
time  in  the  ministries  of  the  Church  unless  the  Church 
has  a  program  big  enough  and  daring  enough  and  com- 
pelling enough  to  command  their  abilities  and  interest? 
The  waiting  Christ  calls  for  Christian  leaders  who  can 
set  them  at  work.  Laymen  who  live  the  same  life  as  their 
masterful  fellow  business  men  and  therefore  know  how 
to  challenge  men  to  do  a  worthy  piece  of  work  for 
Christ  and  his  Church  are  called  of  God  to  persuade  their 
fellows  to  undertake  great  Christian  tasks. 

The  every  member  canvass  is  one  method  which  has 
come  to  the  Kingdom  for  such  a  time  as  this.  It  aims 
to  make  every  member  a  producer  as  well  as  a  recipient. 
Such  an  aim  appeals  to  men  who  rigidly  bring  all  busi- 
ness activity  to  the  test  as  to  whether  or  not  the  product 
is  adequate  to  the  investment.  In  business  if  the  out- 
put is  not  forthcoming  the  method  must  change  or  a  new 
set  of  workers  be  secured.  The  infinite  patience  of  Christ 
must  be  severely  tested  by  the  smallness  of  some  men 
in  these  matters.  It  is  a  crime  against  manhood  to  per- 
mit men  to  live  in  the  Church  without  calling  on  them 
to  underwrite  the  greatest  enterprises  of  the  Kingdom 


Spread  of  Christianity  by  Service  49 

to  the  limit  of  their  ability  with  money,  personal  service, 
and  prayer. 

There  are  two  main  reasons  why  financial  campaigns 
in  the  Church  have  failed  of  their  highest  returns  finan- 
cially and  spiritually:  first,  because  they  have  not  been 
daring  enough;  second,  because  of  the  failure  to  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  all  giving  is  a  spiritual  ministry.  As 
the  Rev.  F.  A.  Agar  has  well  put  it :  ''Giving  is  a  func- 
tion of  the  soul,  and  no  man  is  functioning  normally  who 
does  not  give.  We  have  secured  too  much  money  at 
the  expense  of  life."  The  functions  of  a  canvassing 
committee  are  surely  by  no  means  exhausted  when  the 
budgets  are  subscribed. 

In  a  pamphlet  entitled  ''Progressive  Team  Work"  there 
is  recorded  the  story  of  how  one  pastor  used  his  men 
for  the  securing  of  subscriptions  amounting  to  about 
twenty  thousand  dollars  in  a  personal  canvass  in  a  single 
afternoon.  Later  the  same  men  were  employed  in  a 
campaign  for  church  attendance  and  membership  that 
netted  one  hundred  and  thirteen  accessions  to  the  church. 
Then  the  men  were  assigned  to  masculine  tasks  in  con- 
nection with  the  social  and  moral  uplift  of  their  com- 
munity. The  returns  were  commensurate  with  the  ro- 
bust character  of  the  leadership  and  the  tasks.  Men 
will  respond  to  the  brawny  tasks  of  the  Kingdom  when 
a  worth-while  program  is  laid  upon  them.  They  will 
not  remain  interested  unless  the  program  is  big  enough 
to  be  compelling. 

To  all  disciples  of  Christ  the  call  rings  out  clear  and 
loud  to  press  back  into  the  fundamental  spiritual  con- 
ception of  service,  and  to  lay  life  down  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  mankind. 


50  Efficiency  Points  \ 

Laymen  as  Missionaries 

An  investigation  revealed  the  fact  that  in  1914  there 
were  2,429  missionaries  in  the  service  of  eighteen  of 
the  great  foreign  mission  boards  of  North  America. 
Of  these  men  529  or  twenty-one  and  seven-tenths  per 
cent,  are  reported  as  being  laymen.  More  than  one  fifth 
of  the  active  force  of  men  are  unordained !  Even  this  sur- 
prising total  of  unordained  foreign  missionary  workers 
given  above  would  be  considerably  increased  if  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  secretaries  in  foreign  lands 
were  included  in  the  survey.  Of  these  529  men  repre- 
senting the  boards,  187,  or  about  one  third,  are  physi- 
cians and  the  others  teachers,  builders,  treasurers,  or  in 
positions  of  industrial  and  agricultural  leadership.  One 
of  the  most  conservative  Churches  has  138  men  on  the 
field,  of  whom  51  are  laymen,  14  of  these  laymen  being 
physicians  and  37  in  other  forms  of  service.  The  facts 
here  presented  are  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  excuse  that 
there  is  no  room  for  them,  often  given  by  young  laymen 
for  not  engaging  in  missionary  service.  They  also  con- 
tain a  powerful  challenge  to  young  laymen  with  gifts 
and  training  and  genuine  consecration  to  consider  seri- 
ously the  question  as  to  whether  or  not  they  should  in- 
vest their  lives  in  some  needy  part  of  the  mission  field. 

Modern  Apostles 

Who  can  fail  to  feel  the  inspiration  of  the  leadership 
of  the  great  lay  missionaries?  David  Livingstone  was  a 
Scotch  weaver  lad,  but  that  did  not  prevent  his  going 
out  to  open  a  million  square  miles  of  Africa  to  com- 
merce and  to  Christianity.    Keith  Falconer  and  Alexann 


Spread  of  Christianity  by  Service  51 

der  M.  Mackay  of  Uganda  are  household  names  where 
the  heroes  of  the  faith  are  known, — both  laymen. 

These  all  were  born  across  the  sea.  What  about 
America?  Marcus  Whitman,  with  his  dream  of  a  re- 
deemed Northwest,  an  unfailing  inspiration  to  pioneers ; 
S.  H.  Hadley,  "twice  born,"  "a  soul  in  action,"  a  rescuer 
of  the  hopeless  and  the  wrecked ;  Dwight  L.  Moody,  cer- 
tainly the  greatest  evangelist  of  his  age, — all  were  lay- 
men. 

On  January  24th,  19 14,  in  Shanghai,  China,  on  a  mis- 
sionary journey  around  the  world,  Mr.  Samuel  B.  Capen 
ended  his  earthly  career.  A  carpet  merchant,  a  man  of 
affairs,  related  to  many  civic  and  political  matters,  for 
nine  years  the  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
Wellesley  College,  for  fifteen  years  the  president  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions, 
his  dominating  passion  was  to  evangelize. 

One  is  tempted  to  speak  of  some  of  those  in  conspicu- 
ous places  of  power  who  are  still  in  the  thick  of  the 
fight.  When  the  list  of  men  who  lead  the  missionary 
movements  of  to-day  is  studied  many  of  those  most  in- 
fluential are  laymen.  The  mission  boards,  the  Missionary 
Education  Movement,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation at  home  and  abroad,  the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment, the  Laymen's  Missionary  Movement,  what  do  these 
not  owe  to  lay  leadership  ?  What  intellectual  grasp,  what 
platform  gifts,  what  spiritual  penetration  and  power  re- 
side in  these  prophets  of  the  Almighty  in  our  modern 
day! 

Drinking  in  the  spirit  of  such  men  as  these,  inspired 
by  their  example  and  achievements,  and  remembering 
that  there   are  thousands  of  others  in  the   ranks   less 


52  Efficiency  Points 

known  or  unknown  without  whom  the  Kingdom  would 
halt  in  its  onward  march,  shall  not  the  lay  forces  of  the 
Church  covenant  afresh  with  Jesus  Christ  to  be  true  to 
the  New  Testament  conception  that  all  the  members  of 
the  family  of  God  have  an  evangelizing  commission,  and 
that  the  limitless  resources  of  the  spiritual  world  are  at 
the  disposal  of  any  disciple,  minister  or  layman,  who  will 
act  in  accordance  with  the  spiritual  conditions  of  this 
commission  ? 

The  Will,  the  Will! 

In  all  that  has  been  said  there  is  insistent  demand 
for  an  unflinching  exercise  of  will.  Let  us  purpose  the 
wide  design  and  do  it !  Hold  steady  now  and  utter  with 
the  profoundest  deeps  of  life  the  prayer  of  Joh^^  Drink- 
water  : 

Knowledge  thou  hast  lent, 
But  Lord,  the  will — there  lies  our  bitter  need; 
Give  us  to  build  above  the  deep  intent, 
The  deed,  the  deed. 

Grant  us  the  will  to  fashion  as  we  feel, 
Grant  us  the  strength  to  labor  as  we  know, 
Grant  us  the  purpose,  ribbed  and  edged  with  steel. 
To  strike  the  blow. 


Spread  of  Christianity  by  Service  53 

REFERENCES  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

Cope,  Henry  F.  The  Efficient  Layman.  Griffith  &  Rowland 
Press,  Philadelphia.     $1.00. 

"Laymen  in  Gospel  Work."  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
Wichita,  Kansas.     10  cents. 

Mathews,  Shailer.  The  Individual  and  the  Social  Gospel. 
Missionary  Education  Movement,  New  York.    25  cents. 

Mills,  Harlow  S.  The  Making  of  a  Country  Parish.  Mission- 
ary Education  Movement,  New  York.     50  cents. 

Stone,  John  Timothy.  Recruiting  for  Christ.  Fleming  H. 
Revell  Company,  New  York.     $1.00. 

"The  Christian  Social  Order."  A  Series  of  Bible  Readings. 
Association  Press,  New  York.     5  cents. 

"The  Confessions  of  a  Business  Man."  Laymen's  Missionary 
Movement,  New  York.    5  cents. 

Tippy,  Worth  M.  The  Church  a  Community  Force.  Mission- 
ary  Education   Movement,   New  York.     50  cents. 

Tremaine,  D.  C.  Church  Efficiency.  Fleming  H.  Revell  Com- 
pany, New  York.    50  cents. 

Wright,  Henry  B.  The  Will  of  God  and  a  Man's  Life  Work. 
Association  Press,  New  York.    60  cents. 

Zwemer,  Samuel  M.  "The  Price  of  Leadership."  Moody  Bible 
Institute,  Chicago.    5  cents. 


CHAPTER   III 
THE  CHRISTIAN  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  PROPERTY 

Giving  is  inseparable  from  the  texture  of  Christianity. 
Without  it  the  Christian  faith  would  be  unthinkable. 
The  chief  concern  is  not  the  giving  of  money,  although 
that  is  of  very  great  importance.  In  the  widest  sense 
any  thoroughgoing  discussion  of  the  subject  of  giving 
must  include  much  besides  a  statement  of  the  Christian 
attitude  toward  property.  Much  needs  to  be  said  about 
acquisition,  much  about  the  economic  and  industrial  and 
social  factors  in  the  production  and  use  of  wealth.  Tal- 
ents, time,  opportunities,  life  itself  are  elements  of  a 
great  trust  for  which  men  must  render  an  account.  When 
Paul  reminds  the  Corinthians  (i  Cor.  iii.  21-iv.  2)  that 
they  are  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God,  and  that 
one  of  the  prime  requirements  in  a  steward  is  that  he 
must  be  faithful,  he  makes  no  mention  of  money. 

As  a  background  to  what  will  be  said  about  the 
Christian  man's  relation  to  his  material  possessions,  first 
take  a  good  look  at  a  single  passage  from  the  Bible  to 
illustrate  how  essential  to  the  Christian  faith  is  the  prin- 
ciple of  giving.  This  wall  give  perspective  and  the  proper 
appreciation  of  proportion  that  are  necessary  to  any  sat- 
isfactory discussion  of  the  money  problem. 

The  Setting  of  Truth  about  Property 

Three  of  the  fundamental  revelations  of  the  Bible  are: 
first,  God;  second,  the  tasks  given  to  men;  third,  the 

55 


56  Efficiency  Points 

character  men  must  possess  if  they  are  to  have  fellow- 
ship with  God  and  be  equal  to  the  accomplishment  of 
their  God-given  tasks. 

The  apostle  John  is  unsurpassed  as  an  interpreter  of 
the  finest  spiritual  meanings  of  Christianity.  There  is 
an  inspiring  statement  in  i  John  iii.  i6,  17  which  includes 
each  of  the  revelations  mentioned  above.  The  passage 
might  almost  be  called  the  Bible  in  miniature.  The  ren- 
dering of  The  New  Testament  in  Modern  Speech  is 
quoted:  "We  know  what  love  is  through  Christ's  hav- 
ing laid  down  his  life  on  our  behalf;  and  in  the  same 
way  we  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  our  brother  men. 
But  if  any  one  has  this  world's  wealth  and  sees  that  his 
brother  man  is  in  need,  and  yet  hardens  his  heart  against 
him — how  can  such  a  one  continue  to  love  God?" 

J.     God  Is  Forever  Giving 

What  has  John  to  say  about  God?  ''We  know  what 
love  is  through  Christ's  having  laid  down  his  life  on  our 
behalf."  God  can  be  clearly  understood  by  men  only  in 
terms  of  the  death  of  Christ.  No  statement  in  a  book 
can  fully  define  God.  Love  is  the  master  missionary 
passion.  The  supreme  evidence  of  the  missionary  char- 
acter of  God  is  that  love  led  him  to  send  his  Son  and 
constrained  his  Son  to  come  to  a  foreign  land,  suffer 
indescribable  agonies,  and  pour  out  life  itself.  God  so 
loved  that  he  gave.  This  fact  is  the  golden  key  that 
unlocks  all  truth  about  God. 

2.     Giving  Is  Necessary  to  the  Life  of  the  Church 

What  is  John's  message  regarding  the  business  of  the 
Church  of  Christ?    'Tn  the  same  way  we  ought  to  lay 


Christian  Attitude  Toward  Property  57 

down  our  lives  for  our  brother  men."  Giving  for 
others — ^that  is  the  urgent  business  of  Christianity,  that 
is  the  chief  function  of  the  Christian  faith.  All  tasks  are 
bound  together  here.  The  details,  large  or  small,  home 
or  foreign,  are  incidental.  Life  laid  down,  that  is  funda- 
mental. What  is  this  but  the  very  core  of  missions? 
Capable  of  application  as  wide  as  the  needs  of  men, 
here  is  the  missionary  challenge  for  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. Not  an  ascetic  ideal,  not  a  cloister  faith,  but  the 
rugged  trust  of  souls  whose  breath  of  Hfe  is  to  give  up 
the  costliest  treasure  they  possess,  even  life  itself.  "In 
the  same  way  we  ought"  is  the  measuring  line  of  a  mili- 
tant Christianity  as  yet  but  dimly  realized  on  earth.  As 
Jesus  puts  it  in  another  place  as  reported  by  John :  "Ex- 
cept a  grain  of  wheat  fall  into  the  earth  and  die,  it  abideth 
by  itself  alone,  but  if  it  die,  it  beareth  much  fruit"  (John 
xii.  24).  Each  life  carries  within  itself  the  possibility  of 
the  redemption  of  a  multitude  of  souls,  but  the  life  must 
be  given  up  before  these  souls  can  be  born. 

J.    Men  Must  Give  or  Lose  Their  Faith 

And  what  kind  of  men  must  Christians  be  with  a  God 
whose  central  passion  is  giving  and  tasks  which  can  never 
be  accomplished  except  as  life  itself  is  laid  down?  "If 
any  one  has  this  world's  wealth  and  sees  that  his  brother 
man  is  in  need,  and  yet  hardens  his  heart  against  him, 
how  can  such  a  one  continue  to  love  God?"  Put  in  a 
nutshell  it  means  that  any  man  having  any  good  thing 
is  under  obligation  to  pass  that  thing  on  or  to  forfeit 
many  of  the  richest  blessings  of  Christianity.  Some 
have  missed  the  point  here  by  interpreting  the  words  "this 
world's  wealth"  to  mean  material  goods  alone.    The  au- 


58  Efficiency  Points 

thorized  version  translates  this  phrase,  ''This  world's 
good,"  which  keeps  the  singular  number  and  more  nearly 
reproduces  the  actual  meaning  of  the  original  Greek. 
''This  world's  wealth"  includes  money,  but  the  principle 
neither  begins  nor  ends  with  money.  The  words  of  John 
give  us  the  setting  of  all  sound  teaching  about  property. 
The  principle  given  above  includes  any  good  thing  we 
have  and  others  have  not.  For  example,  the  majority 
of  people  in  America  have  educational  opportunity,  but 
as  one  scans  the  educational  map  of  the  world  he  cannot 
get  away  from  the  fact  that  the  city  of  Singapore  is 
the  center  of  a  population  of  forty  millions  of  people 
without  a  single  Christian  educational  institution  of  uni- 
versity grade  among  them.  We  are  under  an  imperative 
obligation  to  pass  on  this  good  thing  called  educational 
opportunity  to  these  forty  millions  in  Malaysia. 

Practically  every  man  in  America  is  within  reach  of 
a  church,  but  there  are  regions  in  Africa,  Asia,  and 
South  America  where  for  hundreds  of  miles  not  a  single 
church  is  to  be  found. 

The  lives  of  our  children  are  protected,  but  millions  of 
little  children  are  exposed  to  the  blight  of  unrestrained 
evil.  Medicine  and  surgery  are  accessible  to  us,  but  one 
half  of  the  people  of  the  world  do  not  have  access  to 
modern  physicians  and  nurses.  We  have  the  Bible  in 
the  speech  of  the  people,  and  all  the  immensely  fruitful 
results  of  scientific  investigation  are  available  in  Chris- 
tian lands.  This  searching  message  of  the  apostle  carries 
with  it  the  implication  that  all  these  benefits  and  many 
more  constitute  "this  world's  wealth"  and  lay  upon  the 
possessor  the  unavoidable  obligation  to  distribute  them 
where  they  are  not  found.    The  adoption  of  these  prin- 


Christian  Attitude  Toward  Property  59 

ciples  would  not  only  mean  new  standards  of  giving 
money  but  also  a  social  order  built  on  justice  and  love, 
a  new  patriotism,  a  Christian  internationalism. 

Here  then  is  the  heart  of  the  Book ;  that  God  is  made 
known  to  men  through  the  giving  of  Christ,  that  the  giv- 
ing of  life  is  the  supreme  business  of  the  Church,  and 
that  the  kind  of  men  God  needs  in  his  vast  designs  are 
givers  of  "this  world's  wealth"  to  those  who  have  not 
heard  of  God  and  of  the  gospel. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  the  ringing  words  from  the 
Bible  which  we  have  just  been  considering  apply  to  all 
that  follows,  as  we  turn  now  to  the  phase  of  the  sub- 
ject which  particularly  concerns  us  here.  The  princi- 
ples of  right  relation  to  property  are  imbedded  in  the 
heart  of  the  Scriptures  and  penetrate  every  reach  of 
life.  No  Christian  can  adjust  himself  worthily  to  the 
life  of  the  kingdom  of  God  without  conclusive  think- 
ing and  a  fixed  purpose  regarding  his  material  resources. 
It  is  also  true  that  any  call  for  the  consecration  of  prop- 
erty, however  lofty  the  appeal  for  consecration  may 
be,  will  fail  to  grip  and  hold  the  men  of  our  day  unless 
they  are  at  the  same  time  confronted  by  a  spiritual 
program  so  vast  and  worth  while  and  enduring  as  to 
challenge  their  ability  and  resources.  The  program  of 
world-wide  evangelization  presents  a  powerful  appeal 
for  the  stewardship  of  life  and  possessions.  The  com- 
pletion of  the  missionary  undertaking  will  halt  and 
tarry  until  there  is  a  wide-spread  understanding  of  the 
Christian  meaning  of  possessions  and  obedience  to  the 
truth  which  is  revealed. 

The  following  sentence  taken  from  a  report  to  the 
Conference  of  Foreign  Missions  Boards  of  North  Amer- 


6o  Efficiency  Points 

ica  in  19 14,  prepared  by  the  Rev.  Cornelius  H.  Patton,  de- 
scribes the  present  situation :  "The  Church  is  not  con- 
scious of  a  conscience  in  the  matter.  The  Church  is 
far  from  having  reached  the  stage  of  saturation  with 
the  idea  of  Christian  stewardship."  May  it  not  be  that 
the  explanation  of  the  powerlessness  of  some  Christians 
and  many  churches  is  found  in  the  above  fact.  Certain 
elements  of  character  cannot  be  developed  apart  from 
giving.  No  amount  of  work  or  pious  professions  can 
take  the  place  of  the  honest  cashing  up  of  a  man's  faith. 
In  short,  highly  efficient  character  is  impossible  with- 
out giving.  The  critical  question  in  the  consecration  of 
property  is  the  larger  and  more  fundamental  question 
of  the  consecration  of  personality.  If  there  is  no  real 
devotion  to  Jesus  Christ,  if  his  living  power  has  not 
transformed  the  inner  springs  and  motives  of  life,  then 
much  that  follows  will  likely  fall  on  deaf  ears  and 
unresponsive  hearts.  Not  only  do  these  principles  apply 
to  individuals,  but  it  is  also  true  that  the  coming  of  a 
righteous  social  order  waits  on  the  application  to  property 
of  true  Christian  principles. 

A  Statement  of  Principles 

Three  of  the  fundamental  questions  which  emerge  in 
any  thoroughgoing  discussion  of  this  theme  are  here  con- 
sidered. 

I.     The  Ozvnership  of  Property 

Private  property  is  anything  from  the  use  of  which 
the  possessor  has  the  right  to  exclude  all  other  persons. 
This  right  of  exclusive  use  is  secured  to  a  man  by  civil 
law.     There  are  some  who  think  this  ends  the  matter. 


Christian  Attitude  Toward  Property  6l 

But  there  is  a  growing  conviction  that  legal  enactment  is 
not  the  final  word  about  possessions.  It  is  secondary, 
not  primary.  The  legal  title  is  only  the  right  to  tem- 
porary possession.  Farms  change  hands,  stocks  are 
sold,  tenants  come  and  go,  but  permanent  ownership — 
whose  is  it?  Here  we  come  at  once  upon  the  basal 
principle  of  all  Christian  teaching  about  property.  Upon 
a  correct  answer  to  this  first  question  the  whole  case 
rests.  The  answer  submitted  is  that  God  is  the  owner 
of  all  things.  There  is  a  law  of  ownership  deeper  than 
title  deeds,  unchanging,  unaffected  by  the  legal  codes 
of  men.  Ownership  in  the  absolute  sense  belongs  to 
one  person  only  and  that  person  is  God. 

The  Scriptures  confirm  this  statement.  In  the  opening 
chapter  of  Genesis  God  is  portrayed  as  Creator  and 
Owner  and  this  is  his  attitude  throughout  the  entire 
Bible.  No  place  is  found  where  God  recedes  from 
this  position.  God  has  never  relinquished  his  right  to 
the  wealth  of  the  world. 

Many  specific  quotations  might  be  given.  The  fol- 
lowing are  samples.  ''The  earth  is  Jehovah's,  and 
the  fulness  thereof"  (Psa.  xxiv.  i).  "And  he  blessed 
him,  and  said.  Blessed  be  Abram  of  God  Most  High, 
possessor  of  heaven  and  earth"  (Gen.  xiv.  19).  "Behold, 
unto  Jehovah  thy  God  belongeth  heaven  and  the  heaven 
of  heavens,  the  earth,  with  all  that  is  therein"  (Deut. 
X.  14).  "The  silver  is  mine,  and  the  gold  is  mine,  saith 
Jehovah  of  hosts"  (Haggai,  ii.  8).  "For  every  beast 
of  the  forest  is  mine,  and  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand 
hills.  ...  If  I  were  hungry  I  would  not  tell  thee;  for 
the  world  is  mine,  and  the  fulness  thereof"  (Psa.  1.  10, 
12).     "But  who  am  I,  and  what  is  my  people,  that  we 


62  Efficiency  Points 

should  be  able  to  offer  so  willingly  after  this  sort? 
for  all  things  come  of  thee,  and  of  thine  own  have  we 
given  thee"  (i  Chron.  xxix.  14). 

As  the  level  of  the  sea  is  the  base  line  adopted  for 
the  measurement  of  altitudes,  so  the  truth  that  God  is 
the  owner  of  all  things  is  the  base  line  from  which  to 
measure  the  truth  relating  to  property. 

Things  can  never  satisfy  a  soul.  Herein  lies  the 
philosophy  of  the  fact  that  God  keeps  the  ownership 
of  things  from  man  for  man's  good.  Money  is  not  the 
root  of  all  evil.  The  earning  of  money  represents  the 
investment  and  expenditure  of  personality.  Its  value  is 
personal  and  spiritual  and  social.  But  a  false  notion  of 
ownership  which  leads  to  the  inordinate  love  of  money 
and  thus  to  the  wrong  use  or  unrighteous  hoarding  of 
money — herein  lies  its  destructive  power. 

The  foundation  difficulty,  therefore,  in  all  perverted 
ideas  of  a  man's  relation  to  property  is  a  false  notion 
of  ownership.  A  man  says,  "This  farm  is  mine,  I  have 
a  perfectly  good  title  deed  to  it.  This  hard-earned  bank 
account  is  mine.  I  am  the  owner  of  this  ship  or  this 
railroad."  The  rich  man  in  Luke,  chapter  xii,  illustrates 
this  evil.  His  eviction  in  a  single  night  reveals  the 
falseness  of  his  ideal  of  ownership.  Such  a  conception 
is  not  Christian,  and  has  no  justification  in  Scripture. 
The  Church  is  suffering  from  ancient  ideas  which  have 
been  perpetuated  and  passed  down  from  one  genera- 
tion to  another  by  our  legal  terms.  These  legal  forms 
are  an  immense  convenience  and  would  do  no  harm 
if  they  did  not  carry  with  them  an  utterly  unscriptural 
set  of  ideas  about  property. 

The  inadequacy  of  current  ideas  of  ownership  is  fur- 


Christian  Attitude  Toward  Property  63 

ther  seen  when  one  analyzes  the  sources  from  which 
money  is  derived.  How  much  was  furnished  directly 
by  the  Almighty?  How  much  by  society?  How  much 
by  a  man's  own  efforts? 

The  Rev.  John  F.  Goucher  says:  ^'Everything  which 
one  possesses  is  either  a  bestowment,  having  its  source 
outside  the  recipient,  or  it  is  an  achievement  through 
the  use  of  forces  or  materials  which  the  user  did  not 
originate.  However  large  the  personal  investment, 
nothing  which  any  one  has  is  his  own  independent 
creation."  ^ 

God  furnishes  two  elements.  First,  he  contributes 
all  raw  materials — land,  minerals,  grain,  chemical 
processes.  One  man  makes  his  money  on  oil  in  Okla- 
homa, another  on  coal  in  Pennsylvania,  another  by  trade 
with  articles  he  did  not  create.  All  these  materials  are 
furnished  by  the  Almighty. 

Second,  whatever  business  sagacity  a  man  has  is  a 
direct  gift  of  the  Creator.  *'Lest  thou  say  in  thy  heart. 
My  power  and  the  might  of  my  hand  hath  gotten  me 
this  wealth.  But  thou  shalt  remember  Jehovah  thy 
God,  for  it  is  he  that  giveth  thee  power  to  get  wealth" 
(Deut.  viii.  17,  18). 

Society  is  a  contributor  to  all  financial  gains.  So- 
ciety furnishes  certain  conditions  of  need  which  make 
trade  possible  and  which  lay  the  foundations  of  all 
competency.  The  law  of  supply  and  demand  is  social, 
not  individual.  The  state,  its  laws,  its  police,  its  or- 
ganization all  contribute.  Therefore,  since  society  makes 
so  large  a  contribution  by  furnishing  favorable  con- 
ditions for  amassing  wealth,  the  right  use  of  property 

^"Principles   of   Stewardship,"  i. 


64  Efficiency  Points 

is  a  debt  to  society  as  well  as  to  God.  The  wealth 
is  God's.  The  power  to  make  money  is  a  gift  of  God, 
the  Christian  man  belongs  to  God  and  so  the  circle  is 
complete. 

To  hold  such  a  conception  of  ownership  makes  the 
acquisition,  the  investment,  and  the  distribution  of  money 
a  profoundly  spiritual  process.  As  is  so  well  stated  in 
A  Man  and  His  Money,  by  Harvey  Reeves  Calkins, 
'*To  recognize  the  spiritual  content  of  money  and  rescue 
it  from  sordidness  and  greed,  this  shall  be  the  saving 
evangel  for  our  generation."  ^  "To  have  is  not  to  own 
but  to  ozve."  ^ 

The  first  great  renunciation  of  the  Christian  who 
wishes  to  conform  his  life  to  Scripture  is  the  renunci- 
ation of  the  ownership  of  material  things.  For  every 
renunciation  there  should  be  a  corresponding  ac- 
ceptance. In  this  case  the  acceptance  which  takes  the 
place  of  ownership  is  the  idea  of  possession.  This  is 
temporary,  not  perpetual ;  it  is  relative,  not  absolute. 
The  summary  of  the  whole  teaching  of  the  Bible  about 
the  ownership  of  material  things  may  be  put  into  the 
following  statement :  ''The  earth  is  the  Lord's ;  to  man 
he  has   entrusted   it   for  a  possession." 

An  illuminating  interpretation  of  Acts  iv.  32-37, 
which  brings  out  the  distinction  between  ownership  and 
possession,  is  given  in  A  Man  and  His  Money.  The 
disciples  were  giving  a  magnificent  display  of  hospi- 
tality and  brotherly  love  in  providing  for  the  large 
number  who  remained  in  Jerusalem  for  an  unusual 
period  following  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
the   founding  of   the   Church.      These   visitors   had   no 

^  Page  349.  ^  Page  332. 


Christian  Attitude  Toward  Property  65 

doubt  exhausted  the  suppHes  they  had  brought  with 
them  to  the  feast.  In  the  description  of  how  this  need 
was  met  the  author  of  Acts  declares :  *'Not  one  of  them 
said  that  aught  of  the  things  which  he  possessed  was 
his  own"  (Acts  iv.  32).  Possessors,  not  owners — 
that  is  the  true  Christian  attitude  toward  property. 

2.     The  Acknowledgment  of  Ozvnership 

A  tenant  acknowledges  the  property  rights  of  the 
landholder  by  paying  rent.  Such  payment  is  a  simple 
act  of  justice  and  is  not  at  all  based  on  sentiment  or 
the  friendly  relations  of  the  owner  and  tenant.  It  is 
a  crude  and  imperfect  but  easily  understood  illustra- 
tion of  one  element  of  the  property  relationship  between 
a  man  and  his  Lord.  It  does  not  exhaust  their  relation- 
ships, it  is  not  the  highest  expression  of  the  living  con- 
tact between  a  disciple  and  his  master,  but  it  is  a  very 
important  relationship.  The  ozvnership  of  God  is  ac- 
knozvledged  by  the  setting  aside  as  an  act  of  zvorship 
of  a  definite  portion  of  income.  This  is  a  recognition 
and  acknowledgment  of  God's  property  rights  in  the 
life  of  the  Christian.  The  acknowledgment  is  not  sim- 
ply a  matter  of  intellectual  assent  to  the  truth  that  God 
and  not  man  is  owner.  It  is  'an  act  of  will  and  a  definite 
transaction.  It  is  a  regulative  principle  of  life.  The 
Old  Testament  clearly  teaches  that  the  proportion  to 
be  set  aside  is  one  tenth.  The  New  Testament  goes 
much  deeper  into  the  question  than  can  be  expressed 
by  any  fraction.  Certainly  no  Christian  should  be  con- 
tent to  do  less  than  the  law  required  of  the  Jew.  The 
setting  aside  of  the  tenth  is  not  a  financial  plan,  it  is 
not  a  scheme  for  the  support  of  the  church,  it  is  by  no 


66  Efficiency  Points 

means  the  full  measure  of  duty,  but  is  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  fact  that  the  disciple  accepts  and  is  obedi- 
ent to  all  the  implications  of  the  truth  that  God  is  the 
owner  of  property. 

Some  feel  that  to  mention  one  tenth  or  any  other 
fraction  is  to  appeal  to  a  hard,  legalistic  and  impractical 
principle.  Before  closing  the  case  recall  the  fact  that 
the  conditions  making  salvation  possible  are  arbitrary  in 
the  same  sense  in  which  this  principle  is  said  to  be  arbi- 
trary. If  men  will  not  accept  the  conditions  of  entrance 
into  the  kingdom  of  God,  conversion  is  impossible.  The 
terms  of  salvation  are  based  on  a  deep  and  changeless 
necessity  in  human  nature.  Is  it  not  equally  reasonable 
that  this  ratio  fixed  by  the  divine  Owner  as  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  his  ownership  is  grounded  in  some  deep  ne- 
cessity of  human  nature  and  essential  to  the  calling  out 
of  certain  of  man's  powers?  God  as  Owner  fixes  the 
quantity;  the  quality  is  fixed  by  man,  the  steward.  It 
is  perfectly  possible  for  a  man  to  set  aside  one  tenth, 
and  yet  not  have  the  spirit  of  the  true  steward.  One 
may  give  little  or  much,  as  God  prospers  him,  but  let 
him  always  remember  that  what  he  has  left  determines 
the  justice  or  injustice  of  the  amount  given. 

J.     A  Program  of  Stewardship 

Several  terms  have  been  used  to  express  the  rela- 
tionship of  a  man  to  property.  Five  of  these  words  are 
servant,  steward,  trustee,  partner,  administrator.  It  is 
frankly  confessed  that  not  one  of  these  is  completely 
satisfactory.  Their  limitations  have  vexed  the  right- 
eous souls  of  those  who  have  sought  to  bring  a  true 
message  to  their  fellows  on  the  subject  of  the  Christian 


MissloMry  Gifts  Incredsing 

in  the 

United   States 

and. 

c 

anada 

1905 

%  8.120725 

1907 

9,458,633 

1909 

11,317,405 

1911 

12,290,005 

1915 

16.045,650 

1914 

17.168,611 

67 


68  Efficiency  Points 

attitude  toward  material  resources.  All  of  them  have 
shades  of  meaning  and  partial  truth  to  be  understood 
and  obeyed.  To  some  persons  all  of  the  words  are 
harsh,  legalistic,  and  quite  incompatible  with  the  char- 
acter of  a  loving  heavenly  Father.  To  others  they 
seem  out  of  harmony  with  a  true  conception  of  per- 
sonality. To  still  others  they  seem  to  destroy  or  at 
least  diminish  the  incentive  to  productive  ministry.  The 
words  are  thought  to  savor  of  the  repugnant  compulsion 
of  a  bygone  age  rather  than  of  the  inspiring  impulsion 
of  Christ  and  his  gospel.  Admitting  all  these  difficul- 
ties, it  is  nevertheless  suggested  that  properly  inter- 
preted the  ideas  which  these  words  suggest  are  in  the 
experience  of  many  neither  harsh,  nor  destructive  of  the 
highest  ideals  of  personality,  nor  do  they  repress  a 
wholesome  desire  to  possess  a  reasonable  amount  of 
property.  On  the  contrary,  some  of  the  richest  and 
most  satisfying  experiences  have  come  to  men  as  a  re- 
sult of  obedience  to  their  requirements.  One  of  the 
chief  difficulties  is  that  the  terms  have  been  too  nar- 
rowly and  unsympathetically  interpreted  to  bring  out 
the  richness  of  their  meaning. 

In  this  discussion  the  term  steward  is  adopted  because 
it  is  the  word  most  frequently  used  in  the  Scriptures 
and  is  on  the  whole  the  most  satisfactory.  The  Rev. 
John  F.  Goucher  in  the  pamphlet  already  referred  to 
gives  the  following  definition  of  the  term:  "A  steward, 
in  the  Bible  significance  of  the  term,  is  more  than  a 
servant :  The  servant  knoweth  not  what  his  Lord  doeth.' 
He  is  far  more  than  an  agent :  'We  are  laborers  together 
with  God.'  The  steward  is  next  to  the  master  him- 
self,— the  highest  official   in   the  household.      There   is 


Christian  Attitude  Toward  Property  69 

the  most  confidential  relation  and  understanding  be- 
tween his  master  and  him.  In  the  making  of  contracts, 
the  use  of  possessions,  and  the  administration  of  affairs 
the  steward  is  entrusted  with  authority  to  represent  his 
master  and  stands  as  his  interpreter  to  make  known 
his  attitude  and  purpose."  ^  We  do  well  then  to  heed 
Peter's  exhortation :  "As  each  hath  received  a  gift,  min- 
istering it  among  yourselves,  as  good  stewards  of  the 
manifold  grace  of  God"  (i  Pet.  iv.  10).  Stewardship  is 
a  program  of  partnership ;  it  is  a  powerful  appeal  to  de- 
votion and  to  faith  in  God. 

The  steward's  responsibility  is  not  discharged  when 
he  has  acknowledged  the  ownership  of  God  by  setting 
aside  a  portion  of  his  income.  Jesus  states  the  truth 
very  clearly  for  every  Christian,  for  all  ages,  when  he 
says:  ''Whosoever  he  be  that  forsaketh  not  all  that  he 
hath  he  cannot  be  my  disciple."  That  is,  he  renounces 
ownership ;  he  is  not  his  own,  but  bought  with  a  price. 
All  is  yielded  in  glad  surrender  to  the  lordship  of  Jesus 
Christ.  This  is  a  safeguard  to  all  that  has  preceded. 
Grievous  evils  have  attended  the  belief  that  when  one 
has  paid  one  tenth  or  any  other  proportion  the  whole 
duty  has  been  performed.  Nothing  could  be  further 
from  the  truth.  God's  ownership  is  over  the  nine  tenths 
as  well  as  the  one  tenth;  the  steward's  responsibility 
ends  only  with  the  whole.  No  proportion  set  aside  for 
religious  purposes  can  ever  discharge  the  total  respon- 
sibility. The  proportion  set  aside  is  an  acknowledgment 
of  a  fact,  namely,  the  ownership  of  Another,  but  the 
whole  is  the  measure  of  the  trust. 

Stewardship  involves  a  man's  attitude  toward  all  the 
^'Trinciples  of  Stewardship,"  6. 


70  Efficiency  Points 

things  which  he  controls.  A  righteous  steward  will  in- 
clude honest  acquisition  as  well  as  acknowledgment  of 
the  ownership  of  Another.  All  business  will  be  con- 
sidered as  an  opportunity  for  ministry.  The  property 
rights  of  society  will  also  be  recognized,  for  a  man 
gathers  up  into  his  life  a  rich  heritage  from  society  and 
the  good  of  the  social  order  is  a  man's  own  highest  good. 

If  these  principles  are  accepted,  then  the  Christian  at- 
titude to  assume  is  for  the  steward  to  hold  all  that  he 
has  subject  to  the  call  of  the  Owner.  The  world  will 
never  outgrow  that  word  of  more  than  human  wisdom: 
"There  is  that  scattereth  and  increaseth  yet  more;  and 
there  is  that  withholdeth  what  is  justly  due,  but  it 
tendeth  only  to  want"    (Pro v.  xi.  24,  R.   V.  margin). 

What  are  the  implications  of  these  principles?  What 
effect  do  they  have  upon  Hfe? 

Principles  of  Social  Justice 

The  Christian  principles  which  should  control  the  use 
of  property  are  based  upon  Christ's  valuation  of  per- 
sonality. His  teachings  concerning  the  supreme  worth 
of  persons  make  it  clear  that  private  property  must  be 
so  held  that  it  is  good  for  persons,  the  person  who  holds 
it  and  all  other  persons.  In  other  words,  the  possession 
of  private  property  involves  both  personal  responsi- 
bility and  social  accountability.  The  legal  title  to  prop- 
erty may  be  sound,  even  though  the  good  of  persons  has 
been  disregarded  in  its  acquisition  and  use,  but  the  moral 
title  to  property  rests  on  social  justice  as  well  as  on 
personal  honesty.  There  is  no  question  but  that  private 
property  secured  and  used  with  justice  to  all  brings 
great  personal   and   national   blessing.      The  principles 


Christian  Attitude  Toward  Property  71 

enumerated  by  Christ  for  developing  personality  have 
a  perpetual  bearing  on  property  rights  but  dimly  seen 
and  scarcely  heeded  as  yet  in  the  wild  disorder  of  the 
present  industrial  revolution.  There  is  ever-deepening 
insistence,  however,  that  this  fundamental  conception 
of  the  supreme  worth  of  persons  must  be  heard  and 
heeded  by  rich  and  poor  alike.  Too  much  property 
may  be  as  bad  for  personality  as  too  little  property.  No 
just  verdict  can  be  rendered  by  combining  and  weigh- 
ing the  legal  aspects  of  the  case  alone.  The  appeal  for 
the  support  of  worthy  objects  for  the  common  good,  for 
the  relief  of  distress,  or  for  the  enrichment  of  the  life 
of  the  community  is  not  an  appeal  to  charity  but  to  social 
justice.  It  is  not  an  infringement  of  rights  but  a  golden 
path  to  the  enrichment  of  personality,  both  that  of  the 
man  who  gives  and  the  community  which  shares  in  the 
gift.  Rich  personality  is  possible  only  in  a  favorable 
social  order.  ''No  man  liveth  unto  himself,"  is  a  Chris- 
tian sentiment.  When  his  relationships  are  properly 
adjusted,  every  man  will  be  in  sympathetic  and  helpful 
partnership  with  all  forces  making  for  the  social  wel- 
fare. 

Principles  of  Safety 

One  of  the  most  prevalent  and  deadly  sins  of  our 
age,  as  of  all  time,  is  covetousness.  It  is  so  universal 
and  so  destructive  that  the  Decalogue  subjects  it  to  flam- 
ing condenination  along  with  other  great  sins.  The  en- 
emy of  souls  has  wrought  great  havoc  by  making  this 
hideous  monster  almost  respectable.  Jesus  classes  it 
with  adultery  and  murder,  the  two  sins  the  mention  of 
which  always  brings  a  shudder.     Paul  puts  it  as  the 


*j2  Efficiency  Points 

climax  sin  in  that  awful  catalog  in  Colossians  iii.  5. 
Three  other  Epistles  contain  the  same  scathing  denunci- 
ation. ''For  this  ye  know  of  a  surety,  that  no  fornica- 
tor, nor  unclean  person,  nor  covetous  man,  who  is  an 
idolater,  hath  any  inheritance  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
and  God"  (Eph.  v.  5). 

To  give  proportionately  and  with  sacrifice,  to  keep 
on  earning  but  to  refuse  to  keep  a  surplus  which  is 
not  needed  for  oneself, — here  is  the  cure  for  covetous- 
ness.  Jesus  spoke  a  great  truth  when  he  said  to  his 
disciples,  ''Lay  not  up  treasures  on  earth."  One  of 
the  great  perils  of  the  children  of  rich  men  is  just  at 
this  point.  The  ruin  that  has  devastated  so  many 
homes  because  of  too  much  money  is  too  tragic  to  re- 
late. 

A  layman  who  was  on  his  way  to  great  wealth  but  who 
decided  to  stop  getting  rich  for  riches'  sake  thus  records 
his  convictions :  "With  some  uneasiness,  however,  I  no- 
ticed that  nothing  was  free  from  the  demands  of  the  laws 
that  make  men  rich.  If  more  money  could  be  made  by 
selling  my  home  and  using  the  capital  to  earn  dividends, 
then  the  home  must  be  sold  and  a  temporary  one  rented, 
and  it  was,  for  I  could  not  bear  to  live  in  a  house  where 
the  values  were  going  up.  I  did  not  yet  realize  that 
everything  was  being  sacrificed  to  the  laws  that  make 
for  riches.  My  children  were  given  no  chance  to  cul- 
tivate the  sense  of  home.  I  had  forgotten  that  it  takes 
more  than  a  house  to  make  a  home.  It  takes  a  whole 
community  to  make  a  home.  I  moved'  to  a  large  city ; 
I  studied  the  program  of  men's  lives  there.  There 
were  many  rich  men  there.  Surely  it  could  not  be 
that  the  accumulation  of  riches  always  worked  harm.    I 


Christian  Attitude  Toward  Property  73 

did  find  some  who  were  not  wholly  consumed  by  the 
passion  for  wealth,  but  I  could  not  find  that  even  they 
had  been  strengthened  by  the  process.  I  inquired  into 
the  history  of  men  who  were  in  advanced  years,  whose 
fortunes  were  large.  I  found  they  had  come  from 
homes  where  frugality  had  prevailed.  I  could  not  find 
that  one  of  them  was  the  son  of  the  rich.  Then  I  in- 
quired as  to  their  sons ;  I  could  not  find  that  a  single  one 
of  them  was  holding  a  leading  position  in  the  city,  and 
it  was  a  city  of  young  men,  too.  I  found  that  sons  of 
these  rich  men  were  not  capable.  Worse  than  this,  the 
majority  of  them  were  mediocre  and  some  were  prof- 
ligate. I  said  to  myself :  'This  game  seems  to  be  all 
right  for  myself ;  as  far  as  I  can  see  I  can  possibly  nego- 
tiate the  dangers  safely ;  I  will  probably  keep  from  being 
cruel,  at  least  in  my  dealings  with  other  men,  and  not 
entirely  neglect  the  Church  and  other  good  institutions 
in  the  community.'  But  I  could  see  that  the  situation 
was  going  to  be  tremendously  against  my  sons.  I  was 
going  to  discount  their  lives  to  make  a  pile  of  money, 
and  for  no  particular  purpose.  I  saw  that  unless  I  could 
play  better  than  most  men  I  had  better  give  up  the  rich 
man's  game." 

How  much  better  to  provide  reasonably  for  one's 
family  and  then  invest  the  balance  in  enterprises  and 
institutions  which  will  bless  the  world  generations  after 
the  donor  has  passed  away ! 

It  was  in  this  spirit  that  Dr.  D.  K.  Pearsons  wrote  the 
following  letter  accompanying  one  of  his  gifts  :  ^ 

"Fifty  Thousand  Dollars,  farewell!  You  have  been 
in  my  keeping  for  many  years  and  you  have  been  a  faith- 

^  "The  Confessions  of  a  Business  Man,"  5,  6. 


74  Efficiency  Points 

ful  servant.  Your  earnings  have  helped  to  educate 
many  young  men  and  women  who  have  helped  to  make 
the  world  better.  You  came  to  me  from  the  grand  old 
white  pine  forests  of  Michigan,  and  now  you  are  going 
into  the  hands  of  other  stewards  in  the  state  of  Ver- 
mont. There  you  are  to  become  a  part  of  a  perpetual 
endowment  fund  for  Montpelier  Seminary.  When  you 
arrive  in  Montpelier  you  will  go  into  the  keeping  of 
good  business  men  and  you  will  be  safe,  as  I  expect  that 
every  dollar  of  this  perpetual  endowment  fund  will 
be  kept  intact  and  actively  doing  good  for  five  hundred 
years.  Over  one  hundred  years  ago  a  good  man  gave 
fifty  thousand  dollars  for  mission  work.  The  interest 
on  this  fund  has  educated  more  than  a  hundred  good 
men  for  the  mission  field  and  is  still  being  used  for  the 
business  of  brightening  the  world  and  making  it  better. 
In  Denmark  there  is  an  endowment  fund  founded  over 
nine  hundred  years  ago,  and  not  one  cent  has  ever  been 
lost  or  wasted.  Now,  Fifty  Thousand  Dollars,  fare- 
well! Go  into  the  keeping  of  younger  men,  and  God's 
blessing  go  with  you !  Do  your  duty  and  give  the  poor 
boys  and  girls  of  Vermont  a  fair  chance." 

Principles  of  Business  Prosperity 
The  adoption  of  these  principles  will  safeguard  busi- 
ness men  at  the  vulnerable  point  of  temptation  to  secure 
returns,  regardless  of  the  ethics  of  the  transaction. 

The  Rev.  C.  C.  Cook  in  his  volume  on  Stewardship 
tells  how  the  Hon.  Chester  W.  Kingsley  used  to  pray, 
"Lord  give  me  a  hand  to  get  and  a  heart  to  give."  His 
convictions  in  the  matter  were  expressed  in  the  following 
words :  "Why  should  not  a  Christian  business  man  open 


Christian  Attitude  Toward  Property  75 

an  account  with  the  Lord  in  his  ledger  and  treat  it  with 
all  the  sanctity  and  promptness  that  he  would  his  ac- 
count with  a  business  firm.  Resolved  to  do  it."  He  was 
so  prospered  in  business  that  before  he  died  he  had  given 
away  half  a  million  dollars  to  bless  mankind. 

Principles  of  Spiritual  Power 

The  great  revival  under  Hezekiah,  the  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  at  Pentecost,  and  other  spiritual  quick- 
enings  recorded  in  the  Bible  were  either  preceded  or 
accompanied  by  an  unusual  loyalty  and  sense  of  justice 
in  the  matter  of  the  devotion  of  money. 

The  Rev.  Harvey  Reeves  Calkins  points  out,  in  A  Man 
and  His  Money, '^  the  intimate  relation  between  a  new 
interest  in  stewardship  and  the  wide-spread  revivals  in 
America  in  the  fifties.  'The  windows  of  heaven"  are 
still  opened  when  God's  people  fulfil  the  conditions  of 
blessing. 

There  has  been  preserved  for  us  the  record  of  Mr. 
Nathaniel  R.  Cobb,  of  Boston,  whose  devotion  is  an  in- 
spiring illustration  of  unusual  business  talent  combined 
with  rare  spiritual  penetration.  He  died  in  1834,  in  an 
age  before  great  fortunes  were  common  and  when  there 
were  few  men  of  wealth  who  set  a  conspicuous  exam- 
ple of  sacrificial  giving.  Of  this  man  it  was  said  that 
he  kept  a  special  room  in  his  store  for  prayer  and  re- 
ligious conversation  with  customers  and  friends.  In  1821 
he  drew  up  the  following  document: 

By  the  grace  of  God  I  will  never  be  worth  more  than  fifty 
thousand  dollars. 

^  Pages  116-119. 


y6  Efficiency  Points 

By  the  grace  of  God  I  will  give  one  quarter  of  the  net  profits 
of  my  business  to  charitable  and  religious  uses. 

If  I  am  ever  worth  twenty  thousand  dollars,  I  will  give  one 
half  of  my  net  profits. 

If  I  am  ever  worth  thirty  thousand  dollars,  I  will  give  three 
quarters,  and  the  whole  after  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

So  help  me  God,  or  give  to  a  more  faithful  steward  and  set 
me  aside. 

His  life  was  cut  short  at  the  age  of  thirty-six,  but 
on  his  death-bed  he  said,  **By  the  grace  of  God,  nothing 
else,  I  have  been  able  to  give  away  more  than  forty  thou- 
sand dollars.    How  good  the  Lord  has  been  to  me !" 

The  Dead  Sea  or  a  Garden  ? 

The  following  lines  contain  a  vivid  warning  and  require 
no  explanation  or  comment. 

I  looked  upon  a  sea 

And  lo !  'twas  dead, 
Although    by    Hermon's    snows 

And  Jordan  fed. 

How  came  a  fate  so  dire? 

The  tale's   soon  told. 
All  that  it  got  it  kept 

And  fast  did  hold. 

All  tributary  streams 

Found  here  their  grave, 
Because  that  sea  received 

But  never  gave. 

O  sea  that's  dead !  teach  rae 

To  know  and  feel 
That  selfish  grasp  and  greed 

My  doom  will  seal. 


Christian  Attitude  Toward  Property  'J'J 

And  help  me,  Lord,  my  best. 

Myself  to  give, 
That  I  may  others  bless 
•  And  like  thee  live. 

A  Changeless  Purpose 

Shall  we  not  then  settle  the  question  of  our  relation 
to  property  in  the  light  of  the  principles  stated  in  this 
chapter  ? 

It  is  ours  to  determine  whether  money  is  to  be  a 
terminus  or  a  highway,  an  incubus  to  sink  us  or  wings 
to  Hft  us  out  of  the  mire  and  fog  of  sordid  things.  God 
expects  cash  and  consecration,  gold  and  goodness,  wealth 
and  wisdom  to  grow  together.  The  counting-house 
should  be  as  sacred  as  the  sanctuary,  the  day-book  as 
holy  as  the  prayer-book.  The  ownership  of  God  is  a 
reality.  Riches  are  given  us,  not  to  exploit,  but  to  ad- 
minister. If  all  this  is  experienced,  then  the  profoundly 
spiritual  processes  of  which  we  have  been  speaking  must 
penetrate  to  the  center  of  life  and  anchor  there  forever. 

I  heard  him  call 

"Come,  follow,"  that  was  all. 

My  gold  grew  dim. 

My  soul  went  after  him: 

I  rose  and  followed,  that  was  all ; 

Who  would  not  follow  if  he  heard  his  call? 


78  Efficiency  Points 

REFERENCES  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

Calkins,  Harvey  Reeves.  A  Man  and  His  Money.  Methodist 
Book  Concern,   New  York.    $i.oo. 

Cook,  C.  A.  Stewardship  and  Missions.  American  Baptist  Pub- 
lication Society,  Philadelphia.     50  cents. 

Morgan,  G.  C.  Will  a  Man  Rob  Godf  Fleming  H.  Revell  Com- 
pany, New  York.     75  cents. 

Murray,  Andrew.  Money.  Fleming  H,  Revell  Company,  New 
York.    35  cents. 

Property,  Its  Duties  and  Rights.  A  series  of  essays.  The  Mac- 
millan  Company,  New  York.     $1.00. 

"Stewardship."  A  packet  of  thirteen  pamphlets  and  booklets. 
Laymen's  Missionary  Movement,  New  York.     50  cents. 


CHAPTER   IV 

INTERCESSION  THE  MOST  POWERFUL  DYNAMIC 
OF    EFFICIENCY 

Of  all  the  calls  flung  out  across  the  world  the  sov- 
ereign summons  is  to  intercession.  No  other  call  carries 
with  it  the  promise  of  fellowship  with  Christ  so  inti- 
mate, the  probability  of  conflict  so  severe,  the  certainty 
of  power  to  carry  burdens  and  bear  pain  so  large,  the 
inspiration  of  possibilities  of  achievement  so  compelling. 
Upon  no  other  human  factor  in  world  redemption  do  so 
many  and  so  weighty  issues  depend. 

All  that  has  gone  before  in  this  little  book  culminates 
here  in  the  appeal  to  use  the  great  unused  dynamic  of 
the  Church.  To  him  who  prays  the  Book  brings  new 
and  gripping  revelations,  gold  released  for  the  Kingdom 
goes  on  its  way  with  vastly  greater  potency,  and  service 
becomes  truly  redemptive.  Vital  Christian  experience, 
without  which  intercession  is  impossible,  needs  contin- 
uous Bible  study,  but  Bible  study  without  intercession 
loses  much  of  its  challenge  to  life.  Prayerless  giving 
will  never  evangelize  the  world,  no  matter  how  vast 
the  sum  of  money  contributed.  As  to  service  without 
prayer,  a  word  spoken  years  ago  by  Mr.  Robert  E.  Speer 
penetrates  to  the  heart  of  the  matter  when  he  says : 
"Communion  without  service  is  a  dream ;  service  without 
communion  is  ashes."  Much,  but  not  too  much,  has  been 
said  about  the  financial  underwriting  of  the  missionary 

79 


8o  Efficiency  Points 

task.  The  supreme  need  and  the  final  appeal  is  that 
the  work  be  underwritten  by  prayer.  The  King,  hold- 
ing in  his  life  all  energies  and  all  plans  and  all  love, 
calls  on  us  through  intercession  to  release  his  energies,  to 
discover  and  execute  his  plans,  and  to  make  his  love 
known  to  mankind. 

What    Meaneth    This    Call? 

The  Rev.  Robert  F.  Horton  says,  ''There  are  twelve 
parts  to  prayer:  meditation,  aspiration,  adoration,  recol- 
lection, thanksgiving,  praise,  contrition,  confession,  faith, 
supplication,  petition,  and  intercession."  That  so  little 
is  said  in  this  chapter  about  the  first  eleven  of  these  is 
not  because  they  are  not  recognized  nor  because  their 
value  is  unappreciated.  All  are  indispensable  to  prayer, 
but  intercession  Is  the  highest  form  of  prayer  and  pre- 
supposes all  the  others. 

A  simpler  classification  and  sufficient  for  practical  pur- 
poses is  that  there  are  three  kinds  of  prayer:  com- 
munion, petition,  and  intercession.  As  Mr.  S.  D.  Gordon 
says,  ''Communion  and  petition  store  the  life  with  the 
power  of  God:  intercession  lets  it  out  on  behalf  of 
others." 

To  some,  prayer  is  a  brooding,  a  dream,  a  reverie,  and 
nothing  more.  Many  limit  prayer  to  communion  with 
God.  We  agree  with  Tennyson  that  "Solitude  is  the 
mother  country  of  the  strong,"  but  that  is  not  all  that 
real  prayer  implies.  There  is  much  about  God  that 
can  never  be  learned  or  experienced  except  as  men 
join  him  in  the  spiritual  conflict  with  evil  which  in- 
tercession implies. 

Often  it  is  said  that  submission,  acquiescence,  is  the 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency      8i 

highest  attitude  of  the  soul.  If  submission  is  interpreted 
to  mean  obedience  to  the  will  of  God,  it  is  profoundly 
true.  This  must  always  be  the  position  taken  by  a  right- 
eous man.  All  true  prayer  must  of  necessity  revolve 
around  the  will  of  God.  A  genuine  intercessor  will 
always  agree  with  the  following  thought: 

Not  thy  gifts  I  seek,  O  Lord; 

Not  thy  gifts  but  thee. 

What  were  all  thy  boundless  store 

Without   thyself,    what   less    or    more? 

Not  thy  gifts,  but  thee. 

This  is,  however,  far  from  all  of  the  truth.  Those 
who  assert  that  submission  is  the  highest  attitude  a  soul 
can  take  toward  God  often  make  a  pious  phrase  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  moral  and  spiritual  conflict  which  in- 
tercession includes  and  without  which  no  one  can  grow 
into  virile  manhood.  If  the  biographies  of  all  the  men 
of  achievement  in  prayer,  whether  in  the  Bible  or  in 
modern  times,  were  fully  written,  vastly  more  would 
be  said  about  importunity  than  about  submission.  The 
Rev.  P.  T.  Forsyth  well  says  on  this  point :  *'We  say 
too  often  Thy  will  be  done,'  and  too  ready  acceptance 
of  this  will  often  means  feebleness  or  sloth.  Prayer  is 
an  act  of  will  much  more  than  of  sentiment,  and  its  tri- 
umph is  more  than  acquiescence.  The  popularity  of  much 
acquiescence  in  things  as  they  are  is  not  because  it  is 
holier  but  because  it  is  easier/' 

Some  have  been  disappointed  in  prayer  because  they 
have  conceived  it  as  a  ready  means  of  obtaining  all  sorts 
of  personal  blessings  merely  for  the  asking.  Prayer  is 
not  a  blank  check  which  may  be  filled  in  for  any  amount 


82  Efficiency  Points 

on  all  occasions  as  the  holder  may  wish.  It  is  not  a 
secret  spring  which  any  one  may  touch  and  help  him- 
self to  the  treasures  of  God  as  he  will.  These  are  false 
conceptions  and  are  not  justified  by  the  facts  in  the  case, 
for  prayer  is  not  a  mechanical  and  materialistic  thing.  It 
is  concerned  chiefly  with  spiritual  forces  and  spiritual 
blessings.     What,  then,  is  intercession? 

I.     Intercession    Is  the   Putting  Forth   of  Vital 

Energy 

Service,  the  giving  of  money,  the  going  out  of  mis- 
sionaries, represent  the  going  forth  of  the  life  of  the 
Church.  Intercession  is  no  less  a  putting  forth  of  its 
vital  energy. 

Let  it  be  frankly  admitted  that  there  are  mysteries  in 
prayer  which  have  not  yet  been  satisfactorily  explained, 
which  have  not  yet  been  fully  met,  but,  while  this  is 
granted,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  prayer  has  been  and 
ever  will  be  a  great  living  reality  among  the  working 
forces  of  Christian  leadership.  It  is  inconceivable  that 
God  should  ask  his  children  to  continue  steadfastly  in 
prayer,  to  pray  without  ceasing,  if  there  is  no  reality  in 
prayer  and  if  it  is  not  a  powerful  method  of  working 
for  the  redemption  of  the  world.  The  Bible  often  as- 
serts and  everywhere  assumes  that  prayer  has  power 
to  change  things.  Something  really  happens  when  men 
pray  aright.  In  Christ's  teaching  prayer  involves  the 
putting  forth  of  vital  energy  intended  to  secure  definite 
and  unmistakable  results.  Prayer  is  not  passive:  it  is 
active.  It  is  the  kinetic  energy  of  the  soul  applied  to 
the  highest  tasks  in  the  Kingdom. 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency      83 

''Supplication   Working'' 

The  Epistle  of  James  was  written  by  a  very  prac- 
tical man,  and  of  all  the  practical  suggestions  he  makes 
none  is  more  compelling  than  the  statement  found  in 
James  v.  16:  *'The  supplication  of  a  righteous  man 
availeth  much  in  its  working."  Here  is  an  expression 
full  of  vigor  alluring  to  men  of  action.  The  thought 
seems  to  be  that  prayer  puts  forces  at  the  disposal  of 
God  to  be  applied  by  him  to  definite  tasks.  Prayer  does 
not  change  the  will  of  God,  but  it  enables  God  to  change 
the  wills  of  men.  Prayer  does  not  persuade  God,  but 
it  gives  God  a  power  to  bring  to  bear  on  men  to  persuade 
them.  All  prayer  is  directed  to  him,  and  the  putting 
forth  of  prayer  energy  releases  forces  which  God  can 
and  does  use  to  accomplish  definite  and  practical  ends. 
Applying  this  thought  to  revivals,  Mr.  Nolan  R.  Best 
says :  ''Men  planning  for  revival  ask  money  and  organi- 
zation to  bring  their  plans  to  pass.  God  asks  only  prayers. 
He  can  have  a  revival  anywhere  if  he  may  have  but 
enough  prayers  of  the  right  kind  to  work  with."  ^ 

If  prayer  is  a  veritable  dynamo  of  power,  why  is  so 
little  accomplished?  Is  not  the  answer  the  fiery  word 
of  the  same  James,  "Ye  have  not,  because  ye  ask  not" 
(James  iv.  2)  ;  or  because  selfishness  makes  the  answer 
impossible,  *'Ye  ask,  and  receive  not,  because  ye  ask 
amiss,  that  ye  may  spend  it  in  your  pleasures"  (James 
iv.  3)  ?  The  truth  is  that  there  is  all  too  little  of  labori- 
ous toil  in  prayer.  As  the  Rev.  Andrew  Murray  reminds 
us :  'Tf  the  amount  of  true  wrestling  with  God  in  the 
daily  life  of  the  average  Christian  could  be  disclosed, 

^Beyond  the  Natural  Order ,  24. 


84  Efficiency  Points 

the  wonder  might  be,  not  that  he  accompUshes  so  httle, 
but  that  God  is  wilHng  to  use  him  at  all."  When  we 
go  home  at  night  from  work  for  God  too  tired  to  pray, 
we  have  robbed  God  of  that  which  he  needed  most  to 
bring  things  to  pass.  The  field  of  victory  in  prayer  is 
trodden  hard  by  the  repeated  charges  of  warriors  who 
turn  not  back  in  the  face  of  difficulty  and  danger. 

'^Striving  in  Prayer'' 

In  a  few  strokes  Paul  gives  us  a  portrait  of  Epaphras, 
one  of  his  powerful  fellow  workers  (Col.  i.  7;  iv.  12, 
13).  The  distinguishing  work  of  Epaphras  was  his 
"striving  ...  in  his  prayers"  (vs.  12).  ''He  hath  much 
labor"  (vs.  13).  What  was  the  object  which  led  him 
to  undertake  the  labor  of  intercession?  The  answer  is 
that  the  Colossians  might  ''stand  perfect  and  fully  as- 
sured in  all  the  will  of  God"  (vs.  12).  What  conflicts 
such  a  result  presupposes !  What  Christlike  love  and  no 
less  Christlike  warfare !  What  patient  teaching,  what 
stern  reproof,  what  changed  housing  conditions  in  a 
heathen  city,  what  revolutionized  habits,  what  breaking 
loose  from  old  relationships,  what  readjustment  of  life's 
plans !  Yet  here  is  a  man  who  believes  that  intercession 
has  power  to  influence  and  change  all  these  things.  He 
proves  his  faith  by  spending  his  time  and  strength  in 
prayer.  Happy  the  church  or  city  that  has  a  modern 
Epaphras  to  set  free  by  intercession  for  the  redemption 
of  men  the  powers  of  the  heavenly  world! 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency      85 

II.     Intercession  Is  the  Decisive  Human  Factor  in 
the  Spiritual  Conflict 

That  we  are  engaged  in  an  intense  spiritual  conflict 
needs  no  proof.  That  in  the  midst  of  the  struggle  for 
the  spiritual  control  of  the  planet  God  still  wonders  that 
there  is  no  intercessor  is  evidence  of  much  lack  of 
prayer  on  the  part  of  the  Church. 

''Salvation  through  Your  Supplication'* 

In  striving  for  the  spiritual  mastery  of  Rome  and 
for  victory  in  his  imprisonment,  Paul  points  out  the  two 
decisive  factors  (Phil.  i.  19).  The  decisive  divine  factor 
is  ''the  supply  of  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ."  The  de- 
cisive human  factor  is  "your  supplication."  It  is  incon- 
ceivable that  Paul  should  have  depended  so  confidently 
on  the  prayers  of  believers  did  he  not  know  that  inter- 
cession had  power. 

How  Two  Battles  Were  Won 

A  fierce  battle  was  at  its  crisis  (Ex.  xvii.  8-13).  The 
odds  were  very  great.  Far-reaching  issues  hung  on  the 
way  the  battle  went.  Intercession  was  the  pivot  on 
which  victory  turned.  Joshua  was  leading  the  battle  on 
the  plain;  Moses  and  Aaron  and  Hur,  the  intercessors, 
were  in  the  thick  of  the  battle  on  the  hill  alone  with 
God.  While  intercession  continued,  victory  was  assured. 
When  it  ceased,  the  tide  turned  to  defeat.  Given  a 
Joshua  to  lead  the  battle,  a  Moses  and  his  helpers  in 
intercession,  and  no  Amalek  can  prevail.  If  in  our  day 
the  Church  would  realize  the  significance  of  that  scene 
on  the  hill  as  the  decisive  factor  in  the  conflict  on  the 


86  Efficiency  Points 

plain,  the  shout  of  victory  would  reverberate  everywhere 
among  the  hosts  of  God.  The  battle  goes  against  the 
Church  when  intercession  fails.  The  key  to  victory  is 
some  Moses  supported  on  either  side  by  his  brethren 
entering  into  the  life  of  intercession.  Any  spiritual  or 
missionary  movement  will  die  out  when  this  fire  burns 
low,  so  that  there  are  only  smoldering  embers  where  there 
should  be  the  leaping  flames.  If  only  a  sufficient  number 
of  workers  in  the  Kingdom  would  learn  this  lesson, 
Christ  could  perhaps  pass  over  slow-moving,  painful  cen- 
turies in  the  history  of  the  expansion  of  the  faith 
and  swiftly  deliver  the  Kingdom  up  to  his  Father. 
'Write  this  for  a  memorial  in  a  book"  (Ex.  xvii.  14) 
that  intercession  is  the  decisive  human  factor  in  the 
struggle   for  righteousness  and  redemption. 

There  is  another  intercession  scene  in  the  life  of  Moses 
even  more  moving  than  the  one  just  mentioned  (Ex. 
xxxii).  This  was  a  battle,  not  with  a  foreign  foe  like 
Amalek,  but  with  sin  in  the  lives  of  his  brethren.  Here 
is  where  the  heart-strain  is  hardest,  dealing  with  sin 
in  those  we  love.  While  Moses  was  on  the  mount  re- 
ceiving the  law  from  God,  Israel  turned  to  idolatry. 
The  very  life  of  the  nation  was  at  stake.  Stern  measures 
were  necessary,  and  again  Moses  turns  to  intercession 
and  pleads  with  God  for  forgiveness  for  Israel  (vs.  31, 
32).  'Tf  thou  wilt  forgive  their  sin — ;"  this  seems  so 
impossible  without  a  supreme  sacrifice  that  Moses  breaks 
off  suddenly  and  adds,  "If  not,  blot  me,  I  pray  thee,  out 
of  thy  book  which  thou  hast  written."  The  thirty-third 
chapter  of  Exodus  records  the  continuance  of  the  inter- 
cession. God's  tenderness  with  Moses  there  mentioned 
is  eloquent  testimony  to  the  wonders  wrought  and  God's 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency      87 

approval  of  Moses'  prayers.  Prayers  that  are  nebulous 
and  nerveless  get  no  answer,  but  intercession  that  draws 
vitality  from  the  soul  works  miracles  in  the  spiritual 
world. 

"By  Nothing  Save  by  Prayer^' 

Look  at  the  desperate  case  of  the  epileptic  boy  (Mark 
ix.  i4-2g).  The  disciples  were  defeated  in  their  ef- 
forts to  help  him.  They  sought  explanations.  "How  is 
it  that  we  could  not  cast  it  out  ?"  The  answer  is  startling. 
Let  us  not  try  to  obscure  the  meaning  of  Jesus  by  some 
mystical  interpretation  which  has  no  practical  relation 
to  life.  Hear  Christ  speak  the  word  which  explains 
much  of  the  lack  of  power  in  the  modern  church.  ''This 
kind  can  come  out  by  nothing,  save  by  prayer/'  Interces- 
sion was  the  decisive  human  factor  in  the  conflict.  If 
the  faith  of  the  churches  in  our  day  was  only  vigorous 
enough  to  appropriate  this  word  of  Christ,  what  devils 
might  be  cast  out  of  modern  society !  Christ  here  asserts 
the  fact  that  there  is  only  one  human  ministry  of  the 
Church  which  releases  enough  spiritual  energy  to  meet 
victoriously  the  great  practical  issues  of  the  Kingdom, 
and  that  ministry  is  intercession.  If  prayer  has  no 
virtue  except  its  helpful  reactions  on  the  life  of  him 
who  prays,  if  it  changes  nothing,  Jesus'  words  throw 
us  back  into  hopeless  unbelief.  Such  intercession  as  is 
here  mentioned  by  our  Lord  is  not  simply  a  repetition  of 
pious  words.  It  is  not  intercession  at  all  if  it  does  not 
send  the  intercessor  out  with  heart  hot  with  indignation 
and  with  inflexible  purpose  to  fight  evil  until  victory  is 
assured.  Once  again,  however,  let  it  be  repeated  that 
the  decisive  human  factor  is  prayer. 


88  Efficiency  Points 

III.    Intercession  Has  Great  Achieving  Power 

The  priceless  human  contribution  to  the  Kingdom 
is  intercession.  It  is  the  highest  creative  function  of 
human  personality.  Intercession  is  the  only  means  by 
which  an  individual  can  touch  a  whole  world.  No  man 
has  money  enough  so  that  he  can  set  it  at  work  every- 
where. Service,  even  of  the  strongest  and  most  gifted, 
is  sadly  limited  and  brief.  A  voice  or  a  book,  no  matter 
how  powerful,  can  reach  only  a  few  of  the  multitudes 
alive  in  our  day.  But  prayer  is  a  timeless  force.  It 
may  be  set  at  work  at  any  time,  anywhere  in  the  world, 
from  any  point  at  which  the  intercessor  is  located. 

Any  view  of  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  world  which 
does  not  place  reliance  on  intercession  as  the  supreme 
method  of  conquest  parts  company  with  much  teaching 
of  the  New  Testament  and  all  the  best  experience  of 
the  Christian  centuries.  Years  ago  the  author  wrote 
out  a  series  of  propositions  regarding  the  achieving 
power  of  prayer.  For  a  considerable  period  of  years 
he  has  sought  to  test  these  propositions  by  the  most 
thorough  and  scientific  tests  of  which  he  knows.  Such 
a  process  involves  three  things, — taking  into  account  all 
the  facts,  all  the  points  of  view,  and  all  experience.  After 
these  years  of  testing  no  reason  has  yet  emerged  which 
has  compelled  the  abandonment  of  a  single  one  of  the 
propositions.  Rather  is  it  true  that  faith  in  their  reality 
is  deeper  than  ever.    What,  then,  can  intercession  do? 

I.     Intercession  Breaks  Down  Barriers 

These  barriers  may  be  personal,  they  may  be  ob- 
stacles involving  a  whole  community  or  large  section  of 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency      89 

mankind,  even  the  whole  world.  These  obstacles  may  be 
physical.  They  are  much  more  likely  to  be  mental  or 
spiritual.  There  are  wills  to  be  removed,  a  new  mental 
condition  to  be  created,  or  new  spiritual  energies  to  be 
released.  Intercession  is  the  greatest  known  solvent  of 
difficulties. 

There  are  some  barriers  which  the  human  workers 
can  remove.  That  these  workers  may  have  adequate 
courage  and  strength  and  skill  will  then  be  the  burden 
of  intercession  for  them.  This  opens  a  great  field  for 
prayer.  There  are  many  other  obstacles  which  God 
alone  can  remove  by  an  exercise  of  his  superhuman 
power.  Those  who  have  made  a  thoughtful  study  of 
Christian  history  are  amazed  at  the  number  of  such  ob- 
stacles which  have  yielded  to  intercession. 

Many  illustrations  might  be  given.  One  will  suffice. 
A  meeting  was  in  progress  in  a  great  university.  The 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  victory  seemed  insurmountable. 
In  the  face  of  these  difficulties  requiring  the  exercise  of 
more  than  human  power,  a  group  of  workers,  instead 
of  remaining  in  the  meeting,  assembled  in  a  retired 
place  and  united  in  prayer  that  the  obstacles  might  be  re- 
moved. Before  many  hours  the  walls  of  a  modern 
Jericho  fell  down.  Battalions  and  batteries  and  battle- 
ships have  no  power  to  remove  barriers  like  these.  In- 
tercession is  mightier  than  them  all.  The  very  fact  that 
the  Church  faces  almost  overwhelming  obstacles  in  our 
day  is  therefore  a  ringing  call  to  intercession. 

2,    Intercession  Opens  Doors 

Sometimes  these  may  be  literal  doors,  as  in  the  case 
of  Peter   (Acts  xii.   1-9).     Verse  five  says  that  Peter 


90  Efficiency  Points 

was  kept  in  prison,  ''but  prayer  was  made  earnestly  of 
the  church  unto  God  for  him."  It  is  no  wonder  that 
God  found  a  way  to  get  him  out  of  prison.  The  de- 
liverance of  Adoniram  Judson  from  Burmese  prisons 
furnishes  a  no  less  remarkable  illustration. 

When  Samuel  J.  Mills  and  his  associates  began  to 
pray  for  the  way  to  open  for  the  carrying  of  the  gospel 
to  all  the  world  the  doors  of  three  continents  were 
closed.  The  Mohammedan  world  was  like  a  great  door 
over  which  was  written  "No  admittance."  The  Bud- 
dhist world,  the  Confucian  world,  the  Latin  world  were 
largely  inaccessible.  How  were  these  doors  opened? 
Men  of  faith  acknowledge  that  prayer  had  more  to 
do  with  opening  them  than  any  other  human  force 
whatever.  When  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  unites  in 
intercession  before  the  closed  doors  of  the  world  and 
is  prepared  to  cooperate  with  God  in  meeting  the  needs 
behind  these  doors,  the  last  one  will  swing  on  its  hinges 
for   the   entrance   of   our   victorious   Lord. 

J.     Intercession  Calls  Forth  Workers  to  Enter  Open 
Doors 

Before  lightly  turning  away  from  the  awe-inspiring 
words  of  our  Lord  in  Matthew  ix.  38,  recall  the  fact 
that  there  is  still  a  great  untouched  world,  that  mil- 
lions still  wait  the  message  of  redemption  because 
workers  have  not  been  thrust  out  into  the  field.  The 
great  scarcity  of  workers  in  the  home  Church  and  in 
the  world  harvest-field  is  known,  often  discussed,  and 
sometimes  mourned  with  deep  sorrow,  but  not  yet  has 
the  Church  undertaken  seriously  to  fill  the  gaps  in  the 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency      91 

thin  line  of  battle  by  the  one  method  which  Jesus 
recommended. 

The  Student  Volunteer  Movement  is  an  inspiring  illus- 
tration of  the  power  of  prayer  to  thrust  forth  workers. 
In  connection  with  the  Kansas  City  Convention,  in  1914, 
more  money  was  spent  to  enlist  prayer  than  was  used  to 
advertise  the  speakers.  The  number  of  volunteers  who 
have  gone  to  the  field  has  increased  steadily  from  the 
beginning,  and  there  has  always  been  a  recognition  of 
the  fact  that  more  fundamental  to  the  life  of  the  Move- 
ment than  organizing  campaigns  to  secure  workers  is 
the  multiplying  of  the  number  of  intercessors. 

Perhaps  no  Christian  leader  has  arisen  on  the  mission 
field  in  our  day  who  has  more  completely  abandoned 
himself  to  intercession  than  the  Chinese  evangelist. 
Ding  Li  Mel.  He  gives  hours  each  day  to  definite 
prayer  for  individuals.  More  than  a  thousand  names 
are  on  his  intercession  list.  The  Student  Volunteer 
Movement  of  China  is  a  concrete  answer  to  his  prayers. 
It  is  said  that  he  has  influenced  more  men  to  go  into 
Christian  service  than  have  ever  been  secured  by  one 
man  during  the  history  of  the  modern  Church  in  Asia. 

When  the  men  of  the  Church  realize  that  intercession 
is  the  only  possible  means  of  raising  up  workers  in  the 
local  church,  for  leading  great  reforms  and  evangelistic 
campaigns  at  home,  and  for  manning  the  far-flung  bat- 
tle-line, a  new  day  of  power  will  dawn. 

4.     Intercession  Releases  Money  for  the  Spread  of  the 
Kingdom 

It  is  a  growing  conviction  that  the  financial  problem 
involved  in  the  evangelization  of  the  world  is  not  fun- 


Q2  Efficiency  Points  ^  ; 

damentally  a  financial  problem  at  all,  but  rather  a  spirit- 
ual problem. 

An  emergency  arose  in  a  field  in  China.  A  gift  of 
a  thousand  dollars  was  imperatively  needed  to  meet  the 
emergency.  A  cablegram  was  sent  by  the  leader  in  China 
to  the  mission  board  concerned,  with  the  statement  that 
prayer  was  being  made  that  the  money  might  be  found 
at  once  and  the  need  met.  The  cablegram  was  on  the 
secretary's  desk  when  he  went  to  his  office  in  the  morn- 
ing. He  gave  himself  to  prayer  over  the  cablegram,  that 
God  might  put  it  in  the  mind  of  some  steward  of  his  to 
give  the  money.  He  then  went  about  his  work  with  a 
quietness  in  his  heart,  expecting  that  the  money  would 
be  found. 

In  the  afternoon  a  plainly  clad  old  man  entered  the 
office  and  asked  for  the  secretary.  His  appearance  at 
first  made  the  clerk  who  received  him  suspicious,  but 
after  consultation  with  the  secretary  the  man  was  ad- 
mitted. He  asked  if  there  was  any  special  emergency 
on  any  of  the  fields  that  some  money  would  meet.  For 
answer  the  cablegram  was  put  in  his  hands.  As  he 
read  it  his  eyes  filled  with  tears.  Controlling  his  emo- 
tions with  difficulty,  he  said  that  he  and  his  wife  had 
been  deeply  moved  while  engaged  in  family  prayers  that 
morning,  and  the  conviction  had  come  that  they  ought 
to  do  something  more  generous  for  the  Lord's  work  than 
hitherto.  That  conviction  had  led  the  man  to  call  at  the 
mission  board  office.  Putting  his  hand  into  the  outside 
pocket  of  a  very  much  worn  overcoat,  he  drew  out  a 
roll  of  bills  and  handed  it  to  the  secretary.  With  a  great 
light  of  joy  on  his  face,  the  old  man  quietly  withdrew. 
When  the  Wk  were  counted  the  §um  was  found  to 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency      93 

be  exactly  one  thousand  dollars.  •  Intercession  in  China, 
more  intercession  behind  a  secretary's  desk,  still  more 
prayer  in  the  quiet  of  the  family,  God  putting  thoughts 
into  receptive  minds  and  generous  impulses  into  loyal 
hearts, — and  a  great  need  was  met  by  releasing  money 
before  the  day  closed. 

If  the  history  of  sacrificial  gifts  for  the  uplift  of  the 
world  could  be  fully  known,  many  another  case  like 
this  would  be  discovered.  It  is  also,  alas,  too  true  that 
many  a  crying  need  remains  unmet  because  there  is  no 
intercessor.  Such  illustrations  as  that  given  above  are 
a  stumbling-block  to  some  people  because  they  say  that 
there  are  many  cases  where  earnest  prayer  was  made  but 
the  money  did  not  come.  Sometimes  when  there  is  an 
intercessor  the  other  links  in  the  chain  are  missing. 
There  is  no  patent  method  of  getting  all  the  money  one 
thinks  he  needs  even  for  the  work  of  the  Kingdom,  for 
there  are  many  elements  involved.  Kept  within  reason- 
able bounds,  however,  here  is  a  secret  of  financing  the 
Kingdom  the  possibilities  of  which  have  not  been  really 
put  to  the  test  as  yet  by  the  Church. 

5.     Intercession  Brings  Victory  in  Hours  of  Crisis 

If  the  story  of  victory  in  crucial  moments  in  Chris- 
tian history  could  be  written,  what  a  volume  of  inspiring 
testimony  to  the  power  of  intercession  could  be  spread 
before  the  Church!  But  what  about  the  lost  battles 
because  intercessors  were  wanting  or  grew  weary  in  the 
field,  and  so  the  end  was  defeat  and  death? 

An  illustration  is  given  from  the  story  of  a  layman 
who  is  conspicuously  successful  in  persuading  churches 
to  undertake  large  things  in  the  support  of  missions. 


94  Efficiency  Points 

He  was  dealing  with  a  difficult  case.  The  official  mem- 
bers of  the  church  were  narrow-visioned  and  selfish  and 
seemed  unyielding.  Two  meetings  were  to  be  held.  At 
the  close  of  the  first  the  case  seemed  hopeless.  The 
official  men  were  not  willing  to  conduct  the  personal 
every  member  canvass  nor  to  challenge  the  church  to 
adopt  a  worthy  missionary  program.  The  leader,  a  bit 
disheartened,  went  away  to  pray.  During  the  interval 
between  the  two  meetings  he  received  a  letter  from  a 
friend  who  reminded  him  that  he  was  making  interces- 
sion for  him.  This  knowledge  put  new  courage  into 
the  worker's  heart  and  inspired  renewed  and  more 
earnest  prayer.  The  second  meeting  opened,  and  it  was 
evident  that  the  whole  atmosphere  was  changed.  The 
official  body  voted  for  a  policy  that  seemed  impossible 
before.  Who  can  doubt  that  prayer  was  the  means  of 
meeting  the  situation  victoriously?  Multiply  this  case 
by  thousands  and  you  have  a  glimpse  of  the  possibility 
of  a  limitless  number  of  otherwise  impossible  victories. 

6,     Intercession  Makes  Possible  the  Preaching  of  the 
Gospel  with  Compelling  Poiver 

What  workers  in  the  Kingdom  need  is  so  rich  and 
full  a  measure  of  the  presence  of  God  as  shall  make 
their  lives  compelling.  Prayer  contributes  much  of  this 
quality  to  Christian  service. 

It  is  an  oft-told  story,  but  one  which  the  Church  should 
never  forget,  how  Mr.  Dwight  L.  Moody  was  led  out 
into  international  service.  While  his  church  was  in 
process  of  construction  after  the  Chicago  fire,  he  went 
over  to  Great  Britain  to  hear  the  leading  preachers  there 
and  to  observe  their  methods  of  work.    While  in  London 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency      95 

he  was  invited  to  preach  morning  and  evening  in  one  of 
the  large  churches.  The  morning  service  dragged  heav- 
ily and  he  regretted  having  promised  to  speak  at  night, 
but  found  on  his  arrival  in  the  evening  that  the  church 
was  crowded.  The  service  began  much  as  the  morning 
service  had  closed,  but  about  the  middle  of  the  sermon 
the  atmosphere  completely  changed.  At  the  close  of 
the  address,  to  the  surprise  of  the  speaker  and  the  pastor, 
when  an  invitation  to  rise  was  given  to  those  who  wished 
to  become  Christians,  scores  responded.  Thinking  he 
had  not  been  understood,  Mr.  Moody  repeated  the  in- 
vitation, making  it  more  difficult  by  asking  that  all  who 
wished  to  become  Christians  go  to  another  room  after 
the  regular  service  was  dismissed.  The  result  was  the 
same.  A  revival  began  which  brought  hundreds  into 
the  Christian  life. 

Mr.  Moody  afterward  sought  for  the  cause  of  this  un- 
usual awakening  and  traced  it  to  the  room  of  an  in- 
valid member  of  the  church,  a  Christian  worker  who 
for  years  had  prayed  that  Mr.  Moody  might  preach  in 
her  church.  On  that  particular  Sunday,  having  heard 
after  the  morning  service  from  her  sister  that  Mr.  Moody 
had  spoken  that  morning,  this  Christian  intercessor,  re- 
fusing to  eat  her  midday  meal,  gave  herself  to  prayer 
during  the  entire  afternoon.  It  was  the  final  tug  in 
the  long  pull  of  years  of  intercession.  The  answer  came, 
not  only  in  great  blessings  to  London,  but,  also,  by  lift- 
ing Mr.  Moody  into  a  position  of  international  leader- 
ship, made  possible  widening  spheres  of  influence  and 
blessing  throughout  the  world. 


g6  Efficiency  Points 

Shall  We  Possess  This  Achieving  Power? 

If  obstacles  are  to  be  broken  through,  if  doors  are 
to  be  opened,  if  workers  are  to  be  thrust  out  into  un- 
occupied fields,  if  money  is  to  be  found  to  finance  the 
enterprises  of  the  Kingdom,  if  victory  is  to  come  in 
hours  of  crisis,  if  the  gospel  is  to  be  preached  with 
compelling  power,  if  conquering  leaders  are  to  be  raised 
up,  the  men  of  the  Church  must  resolutely  purpose  to 
be  men  of  prayer. 

IV.     Intercession  Is  the  Climax  of  the  Equipment 
OF  THE  Servant  of  God 

Old  Testament  Intercessors 

Samuel  is  considered  the  file-leader  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment prophets.  His  character  is  strikingly  illustrated 
in  I  Samuel  ii.  26 :  ''And  the  child  Samuel  grew  on,  and 
increased  in  favor  both  with  Jehovah,  and  also  with 
men."  Almost  these  very  words  are  later  spoken  of 
Jesus.  In  I  Samuel  xii  there  is  preserved  for  us  a  noble 
address  of  this  statesman-prophet,  the  Washington  of 
his  day.  He  is  about  to  lay  down  certain  state  responsi- 
bilities because  Saul  has  been  chosen  king.  There  is 
one  function  he  does  not  propose  to  relinquish:  what- 
ever else  is  to  go  this  is  to  remain.  That  service  to  his 
people  is  intercession.  The'  possibility  of  failure  in  this 
ministry  was  the  one  sin  which  frightened  him  so  he 
says:  "Moreover,  as  for  me,  far  be  it  from  me  that  I 
should  sin  against  Jehovah  in  ceasing  to  pray  for  you" 
(vs.  23).     Here  was  one  of  the  impressive  secrets  of 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency      97 

his  pure  and  powerful  life.     Surely  lack  of  prayer  is 
a  high  crime  against  both  Church  and  state. 

Abraham's  intercessions  are  inspiring  (Gen.  xviii)  ; 
Elijah's  chief  element  of  power  was  his  intercession,  and 
it  prevailed  for  Israel  ( i  Kings  xvii.  22 ;  xviii.  42-45 ; 
James  v.  17,  18).  Hezekiah  not  only  secured  blessing 
for  his  people  by  prayer  (2  Chron.  xxx.  18-20)  but 
turned  back  death  for  years  in  the  same  way  (Isa. 
xxxviii.  1-8).  It  was  by  this  means  that  Sennacherib 
was  defeated  (Isa.  xxxvii.  14-37). 

The  First  Century  Church 

The  Acts  is  the  first  volume  of  missionary  history 
and  is  full  of  the  story  of  answered  prayer.  It  was 
in  connection  with  ten  days  of  prayer  (Acts  i.  4),  when 
the  Church  united  its  intercessions  with  those  of  Christ 
(John  xiv.  16),  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  released  upon 
the  disciples  for  world-wide  witnessing.  It  was  prayer 
that  made  the  vision  of  the  Christ-man  and  the  Christ- 
message  clear  (Acts  vi.  4-10;  vii.  60).  Prayer  safe- 
guarded the  lives  of  the  workers  (Acts  iv.  24-31 ;  xii.  5; 
xvi.  25;  xxvii.  24).  It  was  at  a  place  of  prayer  that 
the  first  converts  in  Europe  were  made  (Acts  xvi.  13-15). 
Intercession  thrust  the  apostolic  missionaries  forth  on 
their  evangelizing  journeys  (Acts  xiii.  2-4).  Prayer 
called  forth  the  martyr  spirit  and  gave  the  workers  re- 
sistless courage  (Acts  iv.  31;  xvi.  24).  Intercession 
released  great  spiritual  forces  (Acts  x  and  xi),  influ- 
enced courses  of  action  (Acts  iii.  i),  prepared  the  field 
and  subdued  the  enemies  of  Christ  (Acts  xvi.  25-29). 
All  this  and  more  intercession  will  do  for  the  modern 
Church  if  only  with  the  same  abandon  and  the  same 


98  Efficiency  Points 

insight  modern  men  go  forth  to  their  world-wide  con- 
quering tasks. 

Paul 

Paul,  like  every  genuinely  redeemed  man,  began  his 
Christian  life  with  prayer  (Acts  ix.  ii).  The  spark 
there  kindled  burned  with  increasing  ardor  all  through 
his  life.  His  Epistles  are  ''inlaid  with  prayer."  The 
Rev.  Charles  E.  Jefferson  says  of  him,  "Paul  is  charged 
with  heavenly  electricity,  and  these  letters  are  electric 
sparks  struck  from  him  by  the  friction  of  passing 
events."  This  heavenly  charging  by  the  Holy  Spirit  can- 
not be  accounted  for  apart  from  prayer.  "Paul  was  a 
volcano  in  a  perpetual  state  of  activity,"  says  another. 
Intercession  stoked  the  subterranean  fires.  His  letters 
begin  and  end  with  prayer;  they  are  saturated  with  this 
spirit.  His  appeals  that  others  pray  for  him  would  have 
been  impossible  did  he  not  believe  that  intercession  was 
a  power  unmistakable  and  indispensable  to  the  progress 
of  the  Kingdom.  When  he  says  to  the  Corinthians  (2 
Cor.  i.  9-1 1):  "God  .  .  .  will  also  still  deliver  us;  ye 
also  helping  together  on  our  behalf  by  your  supplica- 
tion," he  believed  that  prayer  has  power. 

As  a  summary  of  his  convictions  on  this  subject, 
ponder  five  sentences : 

"I  exhort,  therefore,  iirst  of  all,  that  supplications, 
prayers,  intercessions,  thanksgivings  be  made  for  all 
men"    (i    Tim.   ii.    i) — the  primacy  of  prayer. 

"In  nothing  be  anxious ;  but  in  everything  by  prayer 
and  supplication  with  thanksgiving  let  your  requests  be 
made  known  unto  God"  (Phil,  iv.  6) — the  inclusiveness 
of  prayer. 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency      99 

"With  all  prayer  and  supplication,  praying  at  all  sea- 
sons in  the  Spirit,  and  watching  thereunto  in  all  per- 
severance and  supplication  for  all  the  saints"  (Eph.  vi. 
18) — the  time  for  prayer. 

"I  desire,  therefore,  that  the  men  pray  in  every  place, 
lifting  up  holy  hands"  (i  Tim.  ii.  8) — the  place  for 
prayer. 

"Pray  without  ceasing''  (i  Thess.  v.  17) — the  con- 
tinuity of  prayer. 

Gather  up  the  five  pregnant  phrases  italicised  in  the 
quotations  and  you  have  a  bit  of  Paul's  conception  of 
how  central  a  thing  prayer  is  in  the  life  of  the  Christian : 
''First  of  all,"  ''in  everything,"  "at  all  seasons,"  "in  every 
place,"  "without  ceasing,"  "pray!" 

The  climax  of  Paul's  description  of  the  equipment  of 
the  spiritual  warrior  in  Ephesians  vi.  10-20  is  prayer. 
The  girdle,  the  breastplate,  the  sandals,  the  shield,  the 
helmet,  the  sword,  intercession.  These  are  his  armor. 
The  description  does  not  end  with  verse  17,  as  we  have 
too  often  thought.  The  climax  is  in  verses  18  and  19. 
"With  all  prayer  and  supplication,  praying  at  all  sea- 
sons in  the  Spirit,  and  watching  thereunto  in  all  per- 
severance and  supplication  for  all  the  saints,  and  on  my 
behalf."  This  is  the  supreme  method  of  attack.  What 
is  the  result  of  such  fighting?  For  answer  read  verse 
13,  as  phrased  in  The  New  Testament  in  Modern  Speech. 
"Therefore  put  on  the  complete  armor  of  God,  so  that 
ye  may  be  able  to  stand  your  ground  on  the  day  of 
battle,  and  having  fought  to  the  end,  to  remain  victors 
on  the  field."  We  repeat  verse  18,  as  given  in  A  Netv 
Translation  of  the  New  Testament.  "Praying  at  all 
times  in  the  Spirit  with  all  manner  of  prayer  and  entreaty 


100  Efficiency  Points 

— be  alive  to  that,  attend  to  it  unceasingly,  interceding 
on  behalf  of  all  the  saints." 

Our  Lord 

How  inseparable  this  theme  is  from  the  teachings  of 
our  Lord  is  very  strongly  brought  out  in  such  books 
as  Andrew  Murray's  With  Christ  in  the  School  of 
Prayer,  and  it  is  earnestly  urged  that  this  book  be  read 
frequently  and  studied  always  with  the  open  Bible  in 
hand. 

Christ  constantly  prayed  (Mark  i.  35;  Luke  v.  16;  vi. 
12;  Matt.  xiv.  23;  Luke  ix.  18;  ix.  28,  29).  The  burden 
of  his  prayer  is  for  others,  as  is  so  powerfully  revealed  in 
John  xvii,  where  Christ  prayed  for  the  oncoming  cen- 
turies and  the  world-conquering  Church.  That  chapter 
is  the  cathedral  of  the  New  Testament.  Christ  con- 
sidered prayer  more  important  than  public  speech,  as  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  his  profoundest  concern  for  his 
preachers  was  that  they  be  men  of  prayer.  His  lessons 
were  not  so  much  on  how  to  preach  as  on  how  to  pray 
(Matt.  vi.  5-15;  xvii.  19,  20;  Luke  xi.  1-13;  Luke  xviii. 
1-14).  Teaching  and  healing  were  less  urgent  than 
prayer  with  our  Lord,  for  when  the  multitudes  were 
pressing  him  for  healing  and  teaching  he  withdrew  to 
pray  (Luke  v.  15,  16).  Sleep  and  rest  are  gifts  of  God 
but  not  so  necessary  as  intercession,  for  they  were  both 
sacrificed  when  urgent  needs  arose  (Mark  i.  35;  Luke 
vi.  12).  Christ  states  only  one  method  of  securing 
workers,  and  that  method  is  intercession  (Matt.  ix.  38). 

Jesus  teaches  that  it  is  on  prayer  that  some  of  the 
promises  wait  their  fulfilment.  If  this  is  untrue,  why 
does  Jesus  say,  ''Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you;  seek, 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency    ioi 

and  ye  shall  find ;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto 
you"  (Luke  xi.  9,  10)  ?  Intercession  is  not  simply  a 
placid  asking,  nor  even  an  earnest  seeking,  but  some- 
times it  must  be  a  rising  up  in  one's  might  to  smite  the 
closed  door.  God  has  promised  the  Holy  Spirit  to  all 
(Acts  ii.  39),  but  in  connection  with  the  passage  in 
Luke  mentioned  above,  Jesus  illustrates  the  necessity  of 
asking,  seeking,  knocking,  by  saying,  *'How  much  more 
shall  your  heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them 
that  ask  him"  (Luke  xi.  13).  It  is  not  only  true  that 
the  fulfilment  of  promises  waits  on  prayer  but  also  in 
some  circumstances  it  is  upon  prayer  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
waits  to  cooperate  with  men.  Pentecost  and  all  the 
repetitions  of  the  experience  in  Acts  are  preceded  and 
accompanied  by  prayer.  This  means  that  the  Kingdom 
delays  its  coming  where  there  is  lack  of  prayer.  What 
a  sense  of  responsibility  and  compulsion  this  should 
bring  every  Christian!  What  unnecessary  poverty  and 
misery  and  wreckage  are  in  the  world  which  praying 
men  might  have  prevented  or  removed! 

But  the  fact  which  lays  hold  of  one  so  powerfully  that 
the  very  wonder  of  it  becomes  well-nigh  overwhelming 
is  the  fact  which  is  now  about  to  be  stated.  Pray  that 
the  significance  of  the  truth  may  lay  hold  of  the  very 
soul.  The  crowning  evidence  of  the  place  of  intercession 
in  the  life  and  plans  of  Jesus  is  the  fact  that  the  Bible  is 
silent  about  all  the  wonderful  and  holy  activities  of 
our  Lord  since  the  ascension  except  this  one.  It  is  in- 
conceivable that  Jesus  has  suspended  action  in  behalf  of 
the  Church  and  his  world.  What  has  he  been  doing  all 
these  centuries?  The  central  activity  of  Jesus  has  been 
the  highest,  hardest,  costliest  ministry.     "He  ever  liveth 


102  Efficiency  Points 

to  make  intercession"  (Heb.  vii.  25;  see  also  Rom.  viii. 
34).  A  prayer  two  thousand  years  long!  It  is  as  though 
God  desired  that  no  one  should  be  confused  by  the  men- 
tion in  the  New  Testament  of  a  large  number  of  activities 
of  the  ascended  and  living  Lord.  He  reveals  only  this 
single  highest  ministry  of  the  Redeemer  in  heaven. 
What  does  this  intercession  do  for  the  Church  and  the 
world?  The  arresting,  startling  answer  is,  ''Wherefore 
also  he  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost."  The  place  which 
Jesus  gives  to  intercession  is  this :  when  he  was  here 
on  earth,  redemption  was  finished  in  intent  by  his  death 
and  resurrection,  but  that  redemption  cannot  he  perfectly 
applied  and  made  completely  effective  zvithout  interces- 
sion. It  is  because  intercession  is  made — his  and  ours 
— that  he  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost. 

A  Battle  Call 

Prayer  therefore  is  both  an  altar  and  an  arena,  a 
shrine  and  a  battle-field.  Prayer  not  only  means  bless- 
ings, but  weapons  of  war.  Sometimes  intercession  will 
employ  the  implements  of  the  wrecking  crew. 

All  this  costs.  It  exhausts  the  stoutest  soul.  It  is 
the  manliest  art.  It  brings  the  reactions  of  the  most 
strenuous  toil.  It  allures  the  athletic  soul  and  challenges 
the  heroic  spirit. 

Shall  we  not  then  hear  the  call  from  Christ  for  prayer, 
more  prayer,  much  prayer,  and  give  to  this  the  foremost 
place  in  the  use   of  our  time   and  strength? 

A  Life  of  Ever  Deepening  Power 

A  recent  pamphlet  by  the  Rev.  Henry  W.  Frost,  Home 
Director  for  America  of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  en- 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency     103 

titled  ''Intercession"  is  mentioned  among  the  pamphlets 
listed  at  the  close  of  this  chapter.  In  discussing  in- 
tercession, Mr.  Frost  says  that  there  are  three  stages 
through  which  the  intercessor  must  pass. 

First,  there  is  the  stage  of  amplification.  Real  inter- 
cession does  not  stop  until  it  has  taken  in  a  world.  No 
more  vision-bringing,  horizon-expanding  practise  is  pos- 
sible to  a  Christian  than  this.  Mr.  Frost  relates  the 
experience  of  the  Rev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor.  ''He  said 
that  he  once  made  a  discovery  which  awakened  and 
startled  him.  He  had  been  interested  in  China,  and  he 
used  to  begin  his  praying  for  that  land,  and  he  would 
pray  for  it  so  long  that  he  had  little  time  to  give  to 
other  countries.  As  a  result,  he  determined  that  he 
would  reverse  the  process  of  praying,  beginning  with 
the  forgotten  lands  and  ending  with  China.  On  think- 
ing the  matter  over  he  discovered  that  South  America 
was  most  frequently  left  out  of  his  praying,  and  from 
that  time  on  he  generally  began  his  prayer  with  South 
American  lands." 

The  second  stage  is  specification.  Intercession  not 
only  leads  one  ever  farther  afield,  it  also  inevitably  com- 
pels more  attention  in  details, — to  individuals  and  groups 
and  special  needs  all  over  the  world.  To  quote  again 
from  the  pamphlet  mentioned  above :  "Let  me  frankly 
say  that  you  will  do  well  to  think  twice  before  you  set 
your  face  toward  this  sort  of  intercession.  For  this 
kind  of  praying  will  take  time.  It  will  mean  the  giving 
up  of  prized  pleasures  and  privileges,  earlier  rising  and 
often  loss  of  sleep  at  night.  It  will  mean  pressing  the 
battle  to  the  gates,  until  you  are  laying  hold  of  Satan's 
stronghold  and  wrestling  with  powers  in  heavenly  places. 


104  Efficiency  Points 

Such  praying  becomes  prolonged  and  is  necessarily  in- 
tense." 

Finally  there  is  the  stage  of  identification.  "Inter- 
cession amplifies  and  specifies,  but  before  it  is  finished, 
it  puts  the  life  so  closely  in  contact  with  God  on  the  one 
hand  and  man  on  the  other  hand  that  oneness  is  ob- 
tained and  maintained.  And  I  assure  you,  if  I  know 
anything  about  intercession,  that  this  experience  costs 
more  than  any  other.  I  told  you  a  moment  ago  to  think 
twice  before  you  set  your  face  to  a  life  of  intercession. 
I  would  now  say  think  thrice  about  it.  For,  if  the  other 
experience  costs,  this  experience  costs  much  more.  I 
would  urge  you  for  the  sake  of  the  Church,  for  the  sake 
of  the  world,  and  above  all  for  the  sake  of  Christ  to 
become  an  intercessor.  Nevertheless,  remember  that 
doing  this  will  mean,  not  only  that  you  will  have  to 
rejoice  with  those  who  rejoice,  but  also  to  sorrow  with 
those  who  sorrow.  For  identification  implies  that  you 
will  have  to  suffer  with  God  in  his  compassion  for  a 
backslidden  Church  and  an  unsaved  world,  and  that 
you  will  have  to  lay  down  your  life  as  a  sacrifice  in 
behalf  of  all  the  sons  of  men.  All  this  will  mean  much 
pain  that  will  be  nothing  less  than  soul  travail. 

''As  I  speak,  I  am  in  my  thought,  far  away  in  China, 
traveling  on  a  house-boat.  There  are  in  the  boat,  be- 
sides the  Chinese  crew,  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  J.  Hudson 
Taylor  and  I.  It  is  night,  and  disturbed  for  some  rea- 
son, I  cannot  sleep,  but  am  lying  awake  in  the  darkness. 
In  a  little  I  hear  the  striking  of  a  match  upon  a  box, 
and  then  I  see  through  the  thin  curtain  the  flicker  of 
a  light.  I  know  what  it  is.  Mr.  Taylor,  the  man  who 
is   not  strong  in  hi§   advancing  years  and   who  ought 


Intercession  the  Dynamic  of  Efficiency     105 

to  sleep  rather  than  wake,  is  up  and  astir.  Through  the 
curtain  I  see  him  sitting  bending  over  the  Word  of 
God.  Then  presently  I  hear  him  pray.  Through  the 
hour  or  possibly  two  hours,  I  hear  the  pleading  voice, 
the  escaping  sigh.  This  man  of  God  is  interceding  amply 
and  specifically,  but  most  of  all  is  identifying  himself 
with  God  and  men,  and  this  is  the  explanation  of  the 
choice  of  the  midnight  hour,  the  many  words  and  the 
sigh  which  almost  amounts  to  a  sob." 

I  Choose ? 


Here  then  sounds  out  the  highest,  hardest,  costliest 
call.  It  is  the  service  which  brings  in  richer  returns 
than  any  other.  Having  faced  the  issue  squarely,  will 
you  turn  away  unconvinced  or  unwilling  to  follow  the 
clear  call  of  God?  Defeat,  disaster,  wreckage  lie  that 
way !  Or  will  you  now  make  this  last  and  highest  cove- 
nant to  join  with  Jesus  Christ  in  unfailing  intercession 
that  Satan's  dominion  may  be  ended  and  Christ  made 
victor  over  all  the  world?  Eternal  issues  hang  in  the 
balance  as  you  decide. 

Jesus  Christ  looks  into  our  eyes  with  a  tenderness  of 
appeal  possible  only  to  One  who  has  lived  an  undamaged 
life.  May  every  man  who  sees  these  words  look  steadily 
into  the  face  of  Christ  and  say:  ''I  choose  the  interces- 
sor's place  of  toil  and  victory,  and  pass  out  into  the  con- 
flict, never  to  leave  the  battle-Held  until  life  is  laid  down 
or  until  the  crown  is  placed  upon  the  brozv  of  Christ  and 
this  prodigal  world  is  brought  back  to  our  heavenly 
Father's  heart/' 


io6  Efficiency  Points 

REFERENCES  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

Best,  Nolan  R.    Beyond  the  Natural  Order.    Fleming  H.  Revell 

Company,  New  York.     75  cents. 
Campbell,  James    M.     The   Place   of  Prayer  in   the   Christian 

Religion.     Methodist  Book  Concern,  New  York.     $i.oo. 
Gordon,    S.   D.     Quiet    Talks   on   Prayer.     Fleming   H.   Revell 

Company,  New  York.     75  cents. 
Greenwell,   Dora,    and   Forsyth,    P.    T.     Prayer.     Hodder   & 

Stoughton,  New  York.     50  cents. 
Murray,  Andrew.     The  Ministry  of  Intercession.    Fleming  H. 

Revell  Company,  New  York.    75  cents. 
Murray,  Andrew.     The  State  of  the  Church:  A  Plea  for  More 

Prayer.    Fleming  H.  Revell  Company.  New  York.    75  cents. 
Murray,  Andrew.     With  Christ  in  the  School  of  Prayer.   Flem- 
ing H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.     75  cents. 
Phelps,   Austin.     The  Still  Hour.     Lothrop,  Lee  &  Shepard, 

Boston.     60  cents. 
"Intercession  the  Primary  Need."     By  John  R.  Mott.     Student 

Volunteer  Movement,  New  York.     10  cents. 
"Intercession."    By  Henry  W.  Frost,  Germantown,  Pa.    5  cents. 
"Prayer  and   Missions."     A  packet  containing   nine   pamphlets. 

Laymen's  Missionary  Movement,  New  York.    25  cents. 


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